Agree it can be important but also know how people put this are. They will put it off until needed. Ofc when needed very possible it becomes impossible. But it is certainly not essential. But then again my comment did not say or imply they are not important. Only they don’t happen as frequently as was assumed.Not sure about the "majority" part, but spouses assigning durable POA to each other for financial and legal reasons is probably the 2nd-most important task (after establishing a will or trust) in executing a comprehensive estate plan.I am willing that bet that couples are not the majority of POAs. They are not needed for joint accounts. And if one became incapacitated the other gains access albeit with a little more work. But they also likely share access information anyway.
TLDR. Couples don’t reall Need POA as much as others.
Sure, my wife and I share joint bank and brokerage accounts, and we're also the primary beneficiaries on each other's individual retirement accounts. But the POA is absolutely essential for allowing one of us to act as agent for the other in the event one of us becomes mentally incompetent, physically incapacitated, or is physically absent and/or unavailable for some reason.
TLDR: Joint accounts or not, reciprocal POAs are essential for couples to manage financial affairs if one of them suffers from dementia or falls into a coma after an auto accident etc.
First I know how often institutions attempt to ignore general POA if not on “their form” and not “pre-approved” before one goes to use it. Second when it does truly become necessary due to incompetence the competent spouse can get control quickly and cheaply here.
So yes can be important. I agree couples should get them (and get them approved”. But what was said was they were the most common situation with POA. My experience, again at least here is when a child or children are the agents. Younger couples just don’t do it but when couples get older or one passed is when they ‘get around to it’
Statistics: Posted by LotsaGray — Tue Jun 04, 2024 2:24 am — Replies 16 — Views 1431