Property planning: revocation of an influence of legal professional | Property planning with Christopher Yugo

Q: I was named in a power of attorney and the headmaster has since moved away. How does he withdraw a power of attorney from 1,800 miles away?

A: First, I’m assuming the Power of Attorney (POA) is an Indiana POA and is governed by Indiana law. Provided these two things are correct; the client can withdraw the POA at any time, and removal should not be a problem.

There are several ways to end a POA. First, a POA terminates if it specifies a termination date and time. If the POA actually says it ends on January 1, 2022, the POA ends on that day by law.

Unfortunately, it seems rather unlikely that the POA will contain such a provision. Unless the POA was executed with a specific transaction in mind, I wouldn’t expect to find such a termination provision.

Another possibility to end the POA is that the document stipulates that it ends if the client is incapacitated and the client becomes legally incapable. This is also required by law and requires the Attorney-in-Fact (AIF) to have actual knowledge of the client’s incapacity.

But again, such a scenario seems pretty unlikely as POAs are generally run to allow someone to act on behalf of someone who cannot do it themselves. It seems like a bad idea to include an incapacity revocation clause unless there is a really good reason to do so.