Power of Attorney:

In addition to a will and a living will the other important document that you should have is a power of attorney. What is a power of attorney? It is a document that you sign which gives someone else, and many times it’s your spouse, the right to do things on your behalf when you’re not able to. For example, if you’re in the hospital, you’ve been in a car accident and you’re being treated and you’re unconscious. You can’t run your business, you can’t do your banking, you can’t do all of those things for yourself. The power of attorney gives the right to someone else that you trust to do those things for you. It is a necessary item, especially, for example -- and I’ve seen this happen -- for those spouses who do a lot of international and national travel in connection with business and they’re not around perhaps for a couple weeks at a time. The spouse that’s at home is the one that’s able to take care of things using as a tool the power of attorney.