Under Missouri law, and the law of many other states, a power of attorney with proper wording may be made “durable.” This means that the power of the agent to act on the principal's behalf continues despite the principal's incapacity, whether or not a court decrees the principal to be incapacitated.
You can write a POA in two forms: general or limited. A general power of attorney allows the agent to make a wide range of decisions. This is your best option if you want to maximize the person's freedom to handle your assets and manage your care.
Missouri law requires that a durable power of attorney be signed in the presence of two or more witnesses, but allows the principal to revoke it at any time. Physicians who are unwilling to follow the durable power of attorney (perhaps due to moral differences) may arrange for a transfer.
Does a Power of Attorney Need To Be Notarized in Missouri? Yes, a power of attorney has to be signed in the presence of a Missouri notary public. The notary must witness and acknowledge the principal's signature for a POA to be valid in the state.
With a general power of attorney, you authorize your agent to act for you in all situations allowed by local law. This includes legal, financial, health, and business matters. General POAs can be durable or non-durable, depending on your preferences.
An ordinary power of attorney is only valid while you have the mental capacity to make your own decisions. If you want someone to be able to act on your behalf if there comes a time when you don't have the mental capacity to make your own decisions you should consider setting up a lasting power of attorney.
The cost of hiring a law firm to write a Power of Attorney can add up to anywhere from $200 to $500.
General Power of Attorney The general power of attorney is a broad mandate that gives an agent a lot of power to handle the affairs of a principal. The agent or the person designated to act on behalf of the principal is charged with handling several tasks.
The principal may create multiple durable powers of attorney, and the principal may appoint more than one attorney-in-fact in a durable power of attorney. A durable power of attorney may provide that multiple attorneys-in-fact shall act jointly or that they may act separately.
In order to make a power of attorney, you must be capable of making decisions for yourself. This is called having mental capacity – see under heading, When does someone lack mental capacity? You can only make a power of attorney which allows someone else to do things that you have a right to do yourself.
Notarization is one of the proper form of authenticating power of attorney in the eye of law and as such General power of attorney dated 28.08. 2008 is valid and properly ratified.
In order for a Lasting Power of Attorney to be valid and be used by the Attorney it must be registered. With a Property and Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney, once it has been successfully registered it can be used straight away.