7 Rules of Thumb in Choosing your Agent in a Power of Attorney  

A Power of Attorney is a legal document you sign to name someone to be your agent to act on your behalf. That means that you must decide who to name as your agent. You can pick anyone you want. Married clients usually name each other and, if they have children, one or more of them as alternates. Unmarried clients or married clients whose spouses have dementia usually name children, if they have them. But, what are the considerations?

Here are a few rules of thumb to help you make your decisions:  

1.   Only consider people you can trust to act in your best interest honestly, deliberately and transparently.
2.    Only consider people who have the time and emotional capacity to do the job.
3.   Pick someone who is decisive and well organized. They don’t need to be an accountant, a lawyer or a financial planner – they can hire those skills.
4.   Proximity is important, but not conclusive. It will be easier for someone who lives in your community to travel to banks to be added to your accounts, to collect your mail and pay bills, to deal directly with vendors. That said, a lot can be set up while visiting you and handled electronically afterwards. 
5.    Avoid using co-agents. You don’t want two “cooks in the kitchen.” However, you do want a “back-up” agent named in the Power of Attorney. If you are compelled to name co- agents, only name two people as the POA and give each authority to act independently of the other.
6.   Don’t worry too much about the feelings of anyone you don’t name. It’s more important that you have an agent or agents you can have confidence in.
7.   Consider the age and health of your agent.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     If you follow these rules of thumb, you should be able to choose the right person or people to name in your Power of Attorney. If the result is that you do not have any family member or close friend that you feel comfortable with, you can name a professional, such as an attorney, accountant or bank. This is not common and will cost more in fees than naming a family member. But if it means that you’ll be protected and you’ll avoid family fights, it may well be worth the cost.