Joint Powers of Attorney (POAs): All Must Agree and Act
An attorney for property or attorney for personal care is someone named in a Power of Attorney (POA) document to have decision-making authority over another person. In the POA context, attorney doesn’t mean lawyer – it means the person given legal authority through the POA document.
A person making a POA document must consider who will be best suited to act as their attorney. If a person appoints more than one attorney, they must consider the pros and cons of appointing the attorneys:
- in succession (first one will act, then if he or she can’t act, the next one will act), or
- jointly (where they must all act together on decisions, all sign documents, etc.), or
- jointly and severally (where one attorney can act alone).
Joint Powers of Attorney – Benefits
The person may wish to appoint two or more people to act jointly. “Jointly” means that the attorneys must agree on every decision.
In theory, this can work where the attorneys are aligned in the decisions they must make. In practice, though, it is rare for two people to completely agree on anything, and even more rare for three or more people to completely agree. This makes a joint appointment logistically difficult.
Some people consider appointing attorneys jointly in the hopes the attorneys will keep an eye on each other and not allow the other to make rash or bad decisions. The logic behind this is flawed. If a person has concerns someone may not be trustworthy in the role of attorney, it is best not to appoint them.
Sometimes people want to name their children jointly because they don’t want to hurt any child’s feelings. Making this decision from emotion, or to spare another person’s feelings, is also problematic. This decision impacts the person’s personal autonomy and everything they own. Feelings should not be the guide.
A person can try to address potential hurt feelings by being direct with family and friends, explaining why they’ve asked one person to act and not another. While people may be hurt initially, this is usually better than having the wrong person making decisions, sometimes for months or years.
Joint Powers of Attorney – Drawbacks
Where more than one attorney is named jointly, every important document must be signed by all attorneys. Logistically, this is inconvenient and even impractical. Not everything can be signed digitally or online. Some institutions require originally-signed documents and others require an in-person attendance by the named attorneys. This is for the protection of the grantor, the person who made the POA in the first place. It can be difficult and time consuming to arrange for two or more original signatures or joint attendances.
