Estate Planning Aided by Key Documents

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Tenise Owens, Troy Bank’s trust officer was a keynote speaker at Healthy Woman seminar.  She said, “Everyone over 19 years old should have a will.  Advanced medical directives, a will with instruction letter, and a strong power of attorney are the key documents needed by each person before the need arises.”

She further revealed that, “The state will be very happy to distribute the money for you if you don’t have a will.”  She calls estate planning as the people’s “financial health” and outlined the pros and cons of having a durable power of attorney.  “We highly recommend that people go to their own attorneys and draw up their will.  You would definitely want someone standing behind you if people will challenge your will.  Therefore, downloading a will from the internet just won’t do,” she revealed.

Powers of attorney may be changed.  She urged the group in keeping the financial institution informed of the revisions.  She shared “We keep the copies of powers of attorney on file - we consider it a binding document unless we’re otherwise notified.”

When someone dies, many people typically go to financial institutions and expect to transact their business with a power of attorney.  However, she said, “A power of attorney would become null and void after a person’s death.  That’s when a ‘will’ would come into play.”

Tags: attorneys, Estate Planning, Healthy Woman seminar, power of attorney, Tenise Owens, Troy Bank, trust officer, will
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