DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY

A legal document that an individual to designate another person, called the Attorney-in-fact, to act on his/her behalf, even in the event the individual becomes disabled or incapacitated. An advanced directive (sometimes called a 'healthcare directive' ) combines a Living will and 'durable power of attorney' either in one document or two separate ones.

The above definition includes two new terms i.e.

Attorney-in-fact

Living will

Lets see what these two terms tell us:-

Attorney-in-fact: A person who holds power of attorney and therefore is legally designated to transact business and execute documents on behalf of other person.

Living will: A document in which one specifies which life-prolonging measure one does and does not want to be taken if one becomes terminally ill or incapacitated.

So, I guess the above two terms though appeared bit complex are quite simple to understand.

NOW, the question arises what is difference between a Regular Power-of-attorney and a Durable Power-of-attorney..!!

The definition of Power of Attorney: A legal document that enables an individual to designate another person, called the attorney in fact to act on his/her behalf as long as the individual does not become disable or incapacitated.

Difference: So, the explicit difference between a regular and durable power of attorney is that the regular power of attorney ceases to be effective if you become disabled, whereas the "durable" power of attorney continues to be effective despite your subsequent disability. The reason for this difference comes from the old English common law where there was no such thing as a "durable" power of attorney. At common law, if you signed a power of attorney naming someone to act on your behalf, they would have this authority only for as long as you remained competent. If you later became disabled or incompetent, the power of attorney was automatically revoked---they were not "durable".

Recognizing that it would be extremely beneficial if the power of attorney would remain effective even if you later became physically or mentally incapacitated. The creation of a "durable" power of attorney is quite simple by adding special language designed to make it clear that the powers are not be effected by your subsequent disability.