Understanding Guardianship vs Power of Attorney
Are you unsure whether you need to get guardianship of an adult or just get a power of attorney from them? My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m an attorney in Tulsa, Oklahoma and I’ve been doing this for about seven years. I want to help you make law easy by trying to figure out how best to set yourself up so that your affairs can be handled if you or someone you know needs to have a guardianship or power of attorney.
We’ve been getting a lot of calls lately about some people thinking that oh man I need to get a power of attorney over my Nana because she’s you know she’s getting on an edge and she’s not you know she’s not all there or oh I think that there might be some serious illnesses going on that you know maybe there’s an issue with mental capacity we need to get something put in place so we can take care of someone.
The Importance of Early Planning
I’m here to tell you a cliche. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and here’s what I mean. You cannot get you can only get a power of attorney from someone if they have the mental capacity to execute a power of attorney. So that means if you know you’re just chatting one day with your friend they’re talking about trying to get their affairs in order making sure that things are taken care of should the worst happen a power of attorney is something they can execute.
You go to any lawyer any lawyer’s office to do it it’s a relatively simple thing to do and it’s something that says that if I’ve become mentally incapacitated and I’m no longer to take care of my affairs usually it requires like a doctor saying hey they can’t make decisions for themselves anymore then the power of attorney would go into effect and whoever is your named agent or attorney in fact or whichever term you want to use would have the authority to make those decisions for you handle your affairs manage your estate things like that.
Acting Promptly to Protect Your Loved Ones
If people wait and they don’t get a power of attorney and they wait too long sometimes it can be too late let’s say you’re in a situation where you know grandpa needs someone to handle his affairs he did not make those provisions there is no power of attorney in place then you have to go and get a guardianship over him instead.
A guardianship is a little bit more difficult to get and it’s certainly more expensive whereas a power of attorney all it requires is someone of sound mind a couple of witnesses and a notary for guardianship you need an actual statement from doctors stating that they no longer can make their decisions you need to go to the courthouse you need to get an order of special guardianship you need to go back for a few more hearings more likely than not there an attorney is going to be appointed for grandpa to represent grandpa and make sure that grandpa’s not being taken advantage of it’s a much longer process to get to the same result which is I need to help him take care of his affairs while he’s still with us.
Contact Us for a Low-Cost Initial Strategy Session
I very much encourage everybody to have a power of attorney in place to avoid something like this happening they can be revoked at any time they can be modified at any time but it will certainly help you or your loved ones in the future so that they’re not scrambling trying to get a court order in place so that they can help you if you have any questions about this or if this is something that you feel like that you want to talk about more please feel free to contact us my name is Carl Birkhead I’m with Wirth Law Office you can find me at MakeLawEasy.com. Thanks. To schedule a low-cost initial strategy session, please call 918-879-1681.
