California Springing Power of Attorney Form

The springing power of attorney document is a somewhat different legal document than a durable power of attorney. The privileges you give in a springing POA document become valid only when the principal becomes incapacitated or medically disabled.

This POA paper doesn’t allow your selected agent to make any health care or medical decisions on your behalf. A springing power of attorney document is a variation of the durable power of attorney document. Springing power of attorney document does not come into effect until you are incapacitated. This means that your selected representative can only begin acting as your “attorney-in-fact” only after you are determined to be medically incompetent or physically disabled by a physician.

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Agent’s Authority

A springing POA gives the person or group whom you designate as your agent effective authority to handle your property, money, and estate. Some of the topics covered in a springing POA are personal property transactions, stocks, bonds, and other market assets, social security and other government benefits, general banking, estate management, legal litigation, retirement plan transactions, personal and family maintenance, and tax matters.

These powers of the agent are more comprehensively explained in the uniform power of attorney act.

The springing POA document must be signed and acknowledged before a notary public. This type of durable power of attorney that could affect a tangible property must be recorded with a notary public but not necessarily a lawyer.

Some US state counties require the grantor to register this durable POA at the local office of the commissioner of deeds or the county clerk’s office.

If there are elements concerning this document that are not clear to you, ask a lawyer to explain it in more detail with you.

When to Use a Springing POA?

Frequently, people do not feel comfortable giving a wide range of capabilities to their chosen representative immediately after signing a POA document, so they select a springing POA. However, a springing POA can become an issue if there is a disagreement between family members or doctors regarding the grantor’s incapacitated state.

Note that for a springing power of attorney document to become effective, there must be a formal proclamation of the incapacitation of the POA’s grantor. In your POA, you may proclaim that multiple physicians must agree and put their findings in writing that you, the document’s creator, are disabled or otherwise unable to manage your affairs.

Only after these legal proclamations are signed and attached to the POA can your agent start acting as your attorney-in-fact.

Until the disability of the grantor has been officially established, an institution, such as a bank or the IRS, may refuse to honor the POA document.