Powers of Attorney

         There are two types of powers of attorney. A Property Power of Attorney allows you to designate another person (called an "agent") to make property and financial transactions on your behalf in the event you become incapacitated. If you do not have a Property Power of Attorney or a Living Trust and you become incapacitated a petition would have to be filed in the Circuit Court for the appointment of a Guardian. Click here for some details on the Illinois guardianship process. (If you had a Living Trust your successor Trustee would be able to engage in property and financial transactions on your behalf.)
        A Health Care Power of Attorney allows you to designate an agent to make health care decisions on your behalf (or on behalf of a minor child) in the event of your incapacity. If you do not have a Health Care Power of Attorney or other advanced directive a surrogate decision maker can be appointed pursuant to the Illinois Health Care Surrogate Act. Under this Act the attending physician can appoint (in the following statutorily prescribed order) a spouse, adult child, parent, adult sibling, adult grandchild, or close friend to act as surrogate and make treatment decisions on your behalf.
        If you would like to change the selection order for the surrogate (e.g., have a friend make health care decisions for you instead of a relative), or you may need to have medical procedures performed outside Illinois, you need a Health Care Power of Attorney. A Health Care Power of Attorney is also less risky - doctors are under no duty to act according to the Surrogate Act unless specific qualifying conditions are present, whereas an agent acting under a Health Care Power imposes a duty on a physician to comply the agent's direction.
        The power also can allow you to delegate your parental health care decision making authority. This may be needed in the event you are out of town and a doctor needs quick authorization to perform needed medical procedures on your child. Keep in mind that once you become incapacitated you can no longer create powers of attorney - absent the availability of one of the other above noted options a guardian in most cases would have to be appointed to represent your interests. Living Wills are more limited than Health Care Powers of Attorney.

What Type of Power of Attorney Should I Use?

        Illinois provides what are called statutory short form powers of attorney, one for property and financial matters, the other for health care matters. These are fill-in-the-blanks forms that can be found at many stationery and office supply stores. They recite the language in the statute. If you are on a budget these are the forms for you. However, it will take some time to read the forms and understand them. Even attorneys who have no prior knowledge of the documents undergo a learning curve in understanding the full meaning and extent of the options and procedures involved.
        If you attempt to use the statutory forms without the assistance of an attorney you run the risk of defeating your purposes or not accomplishing your objectives because of mistake or omission. Many attorneys use these documents when they provide their clients with power of attorney documents - they fill in the blanks based on the information provided by the client.
        Attorneys can also draft custom designed forms. These can:

Power of Attorney Questions

        You will need to answer the following questions in order to specify your powers of attorney. Any nominations of your spouse as health or property agent under a power of attorney automatically becomes null and void upon dissolution of marriage, in which case any designated successor agent would assume the duties. You can print this page using your browser's print function, either before or after you fill it out - just make sure you click anywhere in this area before you attempt to print it (to make sure the browser is focused on the form).

       Do you frequently visit another state, plan on moving to another state, or plan on using a power of attorney in another state (such as an out of state hospital)? If so, describe below:
      

       If you only need Health Care Powers of Attorney click here.

Property Powers of Attorney

        Designate below the names of property power of attorney agents in order of your preference. If an agent dies, becomes incompetent, resigns or is otherwise unavailable to serve the next named available agent shall serve. If you wish more than one person to serve as agent at the same time enter their names on the same line. Individuals, corporations, trusts and partnerships can serve as agents.

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        If a guardian of the estate needs to be appointed to represent you, as in some cases of long term illness or disability, do you want your property power of attorney agent(s) to serve in this capacity? If not, designate guardian nominees below.

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        Do you want your guardian to serve without having to post a bond or security?   

        Review the following list of powers of your property power of attorney agent. If you do not want your agent to have any of these powers remove the check mark in the box next to the power by clicking on it. You will have the opportunity in the next section to modify, clarify, qualify, limit or add to any specified power.

Real estate transactions Financial institution transactions
Stock and bond transactions Commodity and option transactions
Tangible personal property transactions Safe deposit box transactions
Insurance and annuity transactions Retirement plan transactions
Tax matters Claims and litigation
Business operations Borrowing transactions
Trust and estate transactions All other property powers
Government benefits

      If you wish to modify, clarify, qualify limit or add to any of the above specified powers of your property power of attorney agent so describe below.
      

      Do you want your property power of attorney agent to be able to continue annual exclusion and other giving activities you were engaged in during the year before you became incapacitated? (This would allow your agent to reduce your exposure to estate taxes - which may be necessary if at death you have the right to possess, or appoint to your estate or creditors, more than $2,000,000, less any lifetime taxable gifts made.)

     If you have a trust:
                a. Do you want your property power of attorney agent to have any powers to amend or revoke your trust? This can be advantageous if you have confidence that the agent would carry out your wishes. If you select this you may want to have the Property Power of Attorney take effect only in the event of your incapacity (see below).

                b. Do you want your property power of attorney agent to have the power to require your Trustee to distribute income or principal to him for your benefit? If you don't select this you can effectively keep your trust assets and your other assets under the control of two different persons. You may want to do this if your estate is fairly large and you want authority over your assets distributed among two or more people.

      A Property Power of Attorney takes effect when you sign it, unless you specify a future date or event upon which the power is to take effect. Would you like to specify a future date or event upon which the Property Power of Attorney is to take effect? (If you do this your agent will not be able to act on your behalf until the date or event arrives. In some cases it may be helpful for the agent to be able to act earlier. Not specifying an event avoids the need for the agent, for example, to get a certification of your incapacity.)
      Select one of the following:
                I want my Property Power of Attorney to take effect when I sign it.
                I want my Property Power of Attorney to take effect as follows (make any changes desired):
      

      A Property Power of Attorney terminates when you revoke it or when you die, unless you specify a future date or event upon which the power terminates. Would you like to specify a future date or event upon which the Property Power of Attorney will terminate? If so, specify the future date or event below:
       

Health Care Powers

      Designate below the names of health care power of attorney agents in order of your preference, or indicate that you want the same persons to act as health care agents as you designated above to act as property agents. If an agent dies, becomes incompetent, resigns or is otherwise unavailable to serve the next named available agent shall serve. If you want more than one person to serve at the same time put their names on the same line. Individuals, corporations, trusts and partnerships can serve as agents. Health care providers and physicians that are treating you cannot serve at the same time as your health care agent.

      I want the same persons I have designated as property agents to act as my health care agents.   

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        If a personal guardian needs to be appointed to represent you, as in some cases of long term illness or disability, or a minor or disabled child, do you want your health care power of attorney agent(s) to serve in this capacity? If not, designate personal guardians below.

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        Do you want personal guardians to serve without having to post a bond or security?   

        Review the following list of powers of your health care power of attorney agent. If you do not want your agent to have any of these powers remove the check mark in the box next to the power by clicking on it. You will have the opportunity in the next section to modify, clarify, qualify, limit or add to any specified power.

        All physical and mental health care decisions which I could make if not incapacitated.
        Personal care decisions
        Medical, surgical and health care treatment decisions
        Health care institutionalization and hospitalization decisions
        All powers a parent may have with respect to a minor child relating to health care decisions
        Decisions to require any kind of medical treatment or procedure, even though my death may ensue
        Decisions to withhold or withdraw above in the event my physician determines my death is unavoidable
        Decisions to withhold food or water in the event my physician determines my death is unavoidable
        Access to my medical records
        Right to disclose contents of records to others
        To make anatomical gift or other disposition of bodily remains, or any part thereof, for medical or scientific purposes
        To authorize an autopsy
        To select the method of disposition of my remains (i.e., burial, cremation, etc.)
        To visit me
        To contract for medical services, bind my assets for this purpose, and exercise those powers over my property to   the extent required to pay health care costs

       If you wish to modify, clarify, qualify, limit or add to any of the above specified powers of your health care agent so describe below. You may give directions as to any anatomical gifts you wish to make, and how you want your remains disposed of (burial, cremation, etc.).
      

        If you have any life sustenance preferences a) check off one of the declarations below and b) make any changes that you wish. If you don't specify a preference your health care power of attorney agent will be given sole discretion to make decisions regarding life sustaining treatment.
     

     

     

      A Health Care Power of Attorney takes effect when you sign it, unless you specify a future date or event upon which the power is to take effect. Would you like to specify a future date or event upon which the Health Care Power of Attorney is to take effect? (If you do this your agent will not be able to act on your behalf until the date or event arrives. In some cases it may be helpful for the agent to be able to act earlier. Not specifying an event avoids the need for the agent to get a certification of your incapacity.)
      Select one of the following:
                I want my Health Care Power of Attorney to take effect when I sign it.
                I want my Health Care Power of Attorney to take effect as follows (make any changes desired):
      

      A Health Care Power of Attorney terminates when you revoke it or when you die, unless your health care agent has powers relating to the disposition of your remains, in which case it will terminate upon such disposition. If you wish the Health Care Power of Attorney to terminate earlier specify a future date or event upon which it will terminate:
      

        Do you want your health and property power of attorney agents to receive reasonable compensation for their services on your behalf? (By answering "yes" you in effect leave more to those acting as your agents in proportion to the amount of work they perform on your behalf.)

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