Legal Question in Family Law in Oregon

Re: Power of attorney

YOUR QUESTION:

I live in Oregon and I need to know if I can add my brother to the power of attorney for our mother.

ANSWER:

NO. You cannot add your brother to the power of attorney for your mother, at least not by doing it yourself. Rather, it is your MOTHER who may add your brother to the power of attorney. She does this by signing a whole new Power of Attorney in which she designates both you AND your brother as her "attorneys in fact."

Caution: When there are two "attorneys in fact," the Power of Attorney should specify whether they each have full power to make decisions and take action individually, or whether they can do so only if they act in concert with one another. Depending on how the Power of Attorney is drafted. the person granting the power of attorney (your mother, for example) may choose to allow certain types of decisions and actions to be taken unilaterally by only one of the attorneys in fact (signing a check, for example) while requiring joint action for other decisions (sale of real estate, for example).

Sometimes, to avoid lots of problems, it is best to confer with an attorney at law and have the legal document properly drafted (or at least reviewed) before having it formally signed. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

LAWRENCE D. GORIN

http://www.divorcesource.com/OR/pages/ldgorin.html

Law Offices of L.D. Gorin

521 S.W. Clay St., Suite 205

Portland, Oregon 97201

503.224.8884

E-mail: [email protected]