Power of Attorney

• When POAs were first used, the document enabled an agent to act on behalf of the POA creator, also called the principal, but the agent's powers ceased when the principal became disabled or incapacitated. Durable POAs were created as a way of giving an agent the authority to act on your behalf even after you become disabled or incapacitated and regardless of your health. When you create a POA in Arizona, you must specify that you are creating a durable POA as opposed to another kind of POA, otherwise the POA will become inactive if you become incapacitated or disabled.
  
  

Expiration

• Generally, durable POAs remain effective until you die but under Arizona state law, you do have the option to include an expiration date in the POA document. You may want to do this if you only want a particular individual to handle your affairs due to your preferred agent being temporarily unavailable. You must include the name of the individual in question and the date at which her ability to act on your behalf must cease.
  
  

Agents

• In the state of Arizona, you can only name an adult as your agent, and under Arizona laws, adults are individuals who have attained the age of 18. You can name a non-natural person, such as bank or investment firm, to act as your agent, a professional contact, such as a lawyer, a friend or family member. You cannot name someone to act as your agent if that individual has had his license to act as a fiduciary, suspended or revoked, such as a suspended lawyer or broker. However, you can name someone with a revoked license to act as your agent if that person has a family connection to you through blood, adoption or marriage. Naming an ineligible person as your agent means that your POA has no legal basis.
  
  

Considerations

• While a POA becomes inactive upon your death, your agent can legally continue to act as your agent after your death, but only if the agent has no knowledge of your death. Arizona state laws protect an agent who acts in good faith from lawsuits stemming from transactions that she carries out because she is unaware of the principal's death. Without such a provision in the law, creditors and heirs could sue the agent for unknowingly disbursing assets that technically belonged to the estate of the deceased and should have been subject to probate.