Valentine’s Day celebrates partnership. Your will and your Power of Attorney? Also a partnership. One gets all the attention. The other still does some heavy lifting.

Everyone loves a good Will. Wills get the Hollywood treatment. Dramatic readings, family intrigue, surprise beneficiaries. Your Powers of Attorney? They’re stuck in a drawer and forgotten until you’re in a hospital waiting room and you desperately need it.

If estate planning were a band, your will would be the lead singer. Your POA would be the bassist. Less glamorous. Equally essential. Completely underappreciated.

What Is a Power of Attorney?

A Power of Attorney lets you appoint someone to make decisions when you can’t. You’re alive, and not dead. That’s the difference.

There are two main types of Power of Attorney:

• POA for Property: Your appointed attorney manages your money, pays your bills, and can do anything you can do, financially (except they cannot change your will).
• Personal Care POA: Your appointeed attorney makes medical decisions when you can’t tell the doctor or the nurse yourself. They can also make personal care decisions that extend beyond instructions to medical staff.

Power of Attorney vs Will: What’s the Difference?

Your will works when you’re dead. Your POA works when you’re alive. Your Power of Attorney for Personal Care becomes effective upon your incapacitation. But for your Power of Attorney for Property, you have a choice to make it effective from the date of signing, or from the date you are incapacitated.

They’re partners, not competitors. You need both. Yet POAs often get treated like the opening act nobody came to see.

Why POAs Deserve Equal Billing

You’ll Probably Need Your POA First

You’re statistically more likely to become incapacitated than to suddenly drop dead. Stroke. Dementia. Car accident. Aggressive medical treatment that leaves you unable to make decisions.

When that happens, your will is not relevant. Your POA is everything.

Without one, your family may need to spend thousands of dollars and months of their lives pleading to a court to appoint a guardian. Fun for no one. Very expensive but entirely avoidable.

POAs Deal With the Part Nobody Wants to Discuss

Death is certain. Incapacity is uncertain and uncomfortable. Nobody wants to imagine themselves unable to make decisions, unable to speak, unable to manage their own affairs.

So they don’t. They draft the will (death is inevitable, after all) and skip the POA.

Then incapacity happens anyway, and they’re unprepared.

When Your POA Actually Matters

Stroke or heart attack: You survive. Now someone needs to pay your bills and make medical decisions while you recover. Your will does nothing. Your POA does everything.

Dementia: Gradual decline. Eventually you can’t manage your affairs. A POA executed while you still had capacity saves everyone a legal nightmare.

Serious accident: Unconscious, intubated, or cognitively impaired. Your POA steps in without requiring court approval.

Unexpected hospitalization: Severe infection. Surgical complication. Medically induced coma. Life happens fast. Your POA makes sure nothing falls apart.

Long-term care: Aging isn’t optional. Eventually you may need help managing complex decisions. Your POA ensures someone you trust can help.

Notice a pattern? Your will is irrelevant in every single scenario. Your POA is critical.

How Often Should You Review Your POA?

As often as you review your will. Which, let’s be honest, is probably not often enough.

At minimum:

• Every 3-5 years
• After marriage, divorce, births, or deaths
• If your named agent dies, becomes incapacitated, or is now your ex
• If you move provinces
• If your finances change significantly
• If your health changes

An outdated POA can be dangerous. Naming your ex-spouse or your deceased brother doesn’t help anyone.

Don’t Let Your POA Be an Afterthought

Your Power of Attorney isn’t the understudy. It’s a co-star. It deserves the same attention, care, and regular updates as your will.

This Valentine’s Day, show some love to the unsung hero. Review your POA. Make sure it’s current. Confirm your appointed attorneys are still alive, willing, and appropriate. Talk to them about your wishes.

No POA yet? Get them!

---

Need help with your Power of Attorney? LLDG Law can review your existing documents or create new ones that will work when you need them. Contact us to schedule a consultation.

Because the legal documents that protect you while you’re alive deserve as much attention as the ones that work after you’re dead.