A Durable Power of Attorney is a legal document allowing another person to make the decisions for you set out in the Durable Power of Attorney.
        Thousands of years ago they were used when knights and royalty went off to fight in the Crusades.  Of course at that time it was hard to find a person who actually knew how to write, so preparing a Durable Power of Attorney (called a DPA) was something special.
        In recent years, with the advent of first the typewriter, then the memory typewriter and then computers with high powered word processors, they have become increasingly common.  And they are no longer simply used when someone goes off to war.
Forms:
         Many people rely on DPA forms they get from bookstores, or through computer programs, or through senior centers.  These are generally perfectly valid forms, but they sometimes leave little flexibility beyond what is on the form.  Sometimes it is difficult to tailor a pre-printed form to your particular individual tastes and desires.  A lawyer can take the language you want and address your specific needs, putting it in the proper form to make sure ALL of your concerns and desires are addressed.
        Unlike what you might get in a form, DPA's are infinitely flexible.  You can grant your Attorney in Fact as much or as little authority as you wish.  You can name multiple Attorneys in Fact in a single DPA or in multiple DPA's to make certain that the child you might trust to take care of your financial affairs is not allowed to touch your stamp collection he knows absolutely nothing about.  You can designate a person to do no more than sign for you at the closing of a real estate sale or to pick up a paycheck for you or anything else.  You can authorize them to do this for you only on a specific date.
Kinds of Powers of Attorney:
        You may have heard of a Power Of Attorney before -- it's essentially a document giving another person (called an "Attorney in Fact", just like with a DPA) the power to act on your behalf for a limited and specific function.  A Durable Power of Attorney is merely a Power of Attorney that grants the Attorney in Fact powers that continue even when you (you're called the "principal" as the person the DPA is prepared for) are incapacitated or become incompetent.
        There are two different kinds of DPA's.  The first is a power of attorney that goes into effect when it is signed.  The second is a power of attorney that "springs into effect" on a given event, usually when a person becomes disabled, meaning your Attorney in Fact has no authority until and unless you become disabled and unable to handle your own affairs.  (One special kind of DPA is the Durable Power of Attorney Health Care, allowing your Attorney in Fact to make health care decisions for you when you are unable to do so.  Click here for more.)  It's also possible to combine in one person springing powers of attorney both for health care and also for the other matters you are likely to need help with if you're hospitalized.  Or you can split the powers so that the neighbor you trust can take care of your mail and handle your bills and utilities; the son or daughter who has good business and investment sense can take care of your investments; and your spouse or closest relative or personal friend handles your health care decisions.  If the document granting the power is written right, you can do almost anything you want in granting decision-making authority to other parties.
Duration:
        Generally, unless a Power of Attorney document is written otherwise, the power and the authority of an Attorney in Fact end as soon as the person granting the power is disabled or incapacitated.  Unfortunately that is often precisely the time a person most needs someone else to act for them, to pay and collect bills, get needed records, deal with mail, shut off utilities, to do any of the million and one things which could cause us serious problems if left unattended during a period of hospitalization.  It is when the DPA states that the grant of power to the Attorney in Fact shall continue in effect even during a period of incapacity that a simple "Power of Attorney" becomes a Durable Power of Attorney.
        (If you're worried about the person you name as your Attorney in Fact wasting all the assets you've had spent a lifetime earning, you can take some comfort in knowing that a relative or friend can get a judge to revoke the power of attorney if the Attorney in Fact is making bad decisions, and you can revoke at any time any power you grant.)
Revocation:
        How do you revoke a Durable Power of Attorney?  If you have them written for you, you can revoke them however you want to be able to revoke them, even having them automatically revoked simply by the passage of time -- you simply write it into the document.  In other words they need not be particularly "durable."
Kinds of Powers of Attorney:
        What do you do with a Durable Power of Attorney document once you've prepared it?  Do not simply stick it in a drawer and assume signing it took care of everything.  Give copies to both to your Attorney in Fact, and to those you will want to honor the DPA and allow your Attorney in Fact to to do business for you.  This might include your banker or stockbroker or realtor or landlord or tenant or accountant, among others.  Also put a copy in with your important papers.
Finding a Lawyer:
        How do you find a lawyer to prepare a Power of Attorney document?  Nearly any lawyer can draft a power of attorney.  They are fairly simple documents.  Some lawyers who have little familiarity with them may suggest using another lawyer, but finding a lawyer should be no problem whatsoever.
Cost:
        How much will a lawyer charge?  That can vary widely, depending on how often a lawyer prepares them... and how much you want in yours... and how much the lawyer wants to do that kind of work.  It could be as little as $25 per document.  Some lawyers may deal with powers of attorney almost on a "loss leader" basis, the way grocery stores do when they sell milk at less than it costs the store but count on you buying other groceries to make up the difference.  Other lawyers may charge even more to prepare such a document than they charge on an hourly fee basis, because they are not familiar with it or comfortable doing it.  Anything more than $250 should tell you the attorney doesn't particularly like preparing powers of attorney and is only willing to do so if you pay enough to overcome that distaste.

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