I’ve had a number of people contact me since my last post regarding a parent’s concern that whoever holds a Power of Attorney could literally swoop in and take over their parent’s life at any time.  This is a common concern among seniors.  If your parent shares this concern, here are some tips on how to talk to them about the importance of having Powers of Attorney:

• Tell your parent to view the powers under a Power of Attorney as their authority to give and to control.  Giving someone else authority under such a document is an incredibly empowering step and they should recognize it as such, rather than seeing it as losing or giving up control.
• Your parent needs to very clear with their attorney that helps them prepare a Power of Attorney regarding their concerns and hopes so that he or she can craft the document in such a way it is specifically tailored to their future interests. 
• They need to know that its their decision as to how broad or limited the authority they want to provide (ie, handling all financial affairs, or just writing checks out of a specific account) and specifically when she would want that authority to go into effect.
• Tell them that the authority under a general Power of Attorney can be revoked by them at any time, and does not continue in the event they are incapacitated.
• You can also tell them that by creating a carefully crafted durable Power of Attorney specifically for health care now, they are taking an incredible amount of control over their future by giving direction to someone about their own health care needs down the road in the event they can’t make those decisions for themselves. 
• Finally, you should encourage them to select someone to be the attorney-in-fact that they trust tremendously and to even choose a trusted and reliable backup in the event their first choice cannot fulfill this role for someone reason.

I hope these tips are helpful as you talk to your parent about the importance of Powers of Attorney.  More than anything, they must understand that the authority is their’s to provide, so it is theirs to limit and tailor so that their future affairs and health care needs are taken care of in accordance with their wishes and by an individual they trust.  Not taking these steps now might result in them having provided zero direction to anyone at all and then someone else really might “take over” these essential decisions in the future in ways that may or may not be in accordance with their future wishes.