Power of Attorney
“How do you sell a house owned jointly when you can’t locate the other party, or the joint owner is incompetent to sign? Sometimes, the answers appear in strange places. A friend of mine took some blue and purple lace for a project to his late father’s wife at a retirement community in Portland, Oregon. As he was preparing to leave, he noticed a newspaper, the Northwest Boomer & Senior News. In the paper was a column by Sam Friedenberg called Elder Law. He learned some very useful information that allowed him to sleep at night. Friedenberg, an attorney who has been practicing law for thirty years, recommends a power of attorney.
Get a Power of Attorney
Let’s fish or cut bait. If you jointly own a home and your spouse becomes incompetent or unavailable, you cannot sell the house because both signatures are needed to transfer. You will be out in the snow when you want to sell.
A Power of Attorney (POA), a written authorization, allows you to appoint a person or organization to manage your affairs if you become unable to do so. Each spouse signs a POA when they are healthy authorizing the other to represent or act on each other’s behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter. You want to make sure the POA is a Durable POA. If a power of attorney document does not explicitly say that the power is durable, it ends if one of you becomes incapacitated
What happens if a spouse becomes incompetent due to dementia, mental illness, or a coma and you don’t have a POA? Friedenberg says you will have to go through the court system to have the spouse declared legally incompetent. It is an expensive and time-consuming process.
What happens if you decide the house is now too big, or you want to move closer to your children? Once in the court system, you have to account for a bit of green you spend. You find yourself between a rock and a hard place. It’s like probate for the rest of your life.
Please seek legal advice before signing a POA of any kind.
Friedenberg also say there is another document besides a power of attorney; you need an Advanced Healthcare Directive
An advance healthcare directive, also known as a living will, personal directive, advance directive, medical directive or advance decision, is a legal document in which a person specifies what actions should be taken for their health if they are no longer able to make decisions for themselves because of illness or incapacity. In the U.S. it has a legal status in itself, whereas in some countries it is legally persuasive without being a legal document.
Two witnesses who are 18 or older must witness the signing of an Advance Healthcare Directive. The witnesses cannot be beneficiaries under your will, nor may they be persons who would inherit your property if you died without a will. An Advance Directive is not required to be notarized.
A health care directive or POLST for physician’s order for life-sustaining treatment is there for all health care decisions. Family members may act in ways contrary to the patient’s wishes without a POLST.
Finally, long-term care in a retirement facility, assisted living, or memory care costs $4,000 to $9,000 per month. Every assisted living center has access to Medicaid, and cannot shortchange quality care should you run out of money. Caring for the patient may involve placing a lien on the patient’s property. My mother recently set up some matter of trust that protects the house from a lien.
JT Integrity Properties is here to help homeowners out of any distressed situation.
As investors, we are in business to make a modest profit on any deal. However, we can help homeowners out of just about any situation, no matter what! There are no fees, upfront costs, commissions, or anything else. Just the simple truth about your home and how we can help you sell it fast to resolve any situation.
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