The Durable Power of Attorney allows an agent to manage your affairs in your place. The powers can be specific or general in nature.

For example, if you live in one state and own real estate in another state, you can give a person the power to act as your agent in signing any documents in the event that you wanted to sell your property. This power would be limited and can be made into a Durable Power of Attorney.

If this property were valuable and something happened to you to render you incapacitated and unable to earn a living for some time, the agent designated by you could authorize a sale of this property to raise money to pay the mortgage on your house. This forward planning could help to protect your family, and yet keep some, or most, of your estate intact until you could earn a living again.

If you have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, but are not yet suffering the effects, and are still mentally competent, you might draft a Durable Power of Attorney to take effect, and to enable your designated agent to manage your affairs for you, even after you become incapacitated. Your planning and this document could serve to protect your family, preserve your assets and to keep the management of your affairs out of the courts and on a productive line.

If you know that you are going to be out of touch for a time, you can give a stock broker, or other person, the authority to buy or sell stocks, options or other securities for you. Again, this power can be general or specific, but it should not be any greater than necessary to accomplish your goals.

Also, you can use the type of Power of Attorney in the form of a Durable Power of Attorney, so that this agent can make these decisions regarding your financial matters only should you become incapacitated.

If you want to see how a Durable Power of Attorney can help you manage your affairs, contact member services to be paired with an attorney.