Legal Question in Administrative Law in Virginia

Re: power of attorney

You should be able to deliver a limited power of attorney to him for this particular purpose either by mail or by a personal visit to the prison for him to sign and return to you that would allow to sign the tax return for him as a joint filer (although I must admit it remains a mystery to me as to why you would want to do this unless he had reportable income for tax year 2008 and it would somehow be advantageous for you to file jointly).

Re: power of attorney

Sorry to hear of your situation.

You really do not need a POA or your husband's signature to file your own taxes, if you file separately, instead of as a married couple. That might help a little.

However, to get a power of attorney, your husband will have to sign the POA. Since he is incarcerated, I don't know how you will get it notarized, which is normally required. Worse comes to worse, I suppose you could get a Notary to go with you to the facility. Try Craigs List, posting an invite if you don't see some Notaries advertising in your area.

Getting an example form for a Power of Attorney is fairly easy. You can buy forms at Staples or Office Depot, etc., or on-line forms.

Most standard legal forms are not only fairly useless but also dangerous, because the important thing with legal forms is knowing when and how to use them and when it is advisable to customize the legal form to suit your circumstances.

For example, will your husband want to give you a general (unlimited) POA, which would empower you to sign almost anything for him, or would he want a limited POA that is only good for certain specific things? You might have to edit the standard form to satisfy him, and writing that correctly might be tricky.

But of all the things out there, a POA is a fairly standard thing. If you are going to use a standard legal form from Staples for anything, a standard POA example is the one thing that you probably can't go wrong with.

NOTE: Check at IRS.gov to see if the IRS has a required format that they want to see for filing taxes.