A power of attorney is the document that works while you are alive. It is also the one with a hard deadline: it can only be signed by someone who still has the capacity to sign it.
Different authorities, different documents. One does not cover for another.
Without these documents, a family that needs to act has one route: petition a court for guardianship. It is public, it takes months, it costs far more than the documents, and a judge — not you — chooses who is appointed.
A child turning eighteen. A parent being admitted to a nursing home. An extended trip or deployment. A diagnosis. In each case the document has to be in place before it is needed, not after.
Someone reachable, organized, and able to hold a line under family pressure. It does not have to be a spouse or the eldest child.
They act as a fiduciary and are bound to act in your interest, and you can narrow the powers to specific matters when you want the scope limited.
No. It ends at death, and your will and personal representative take over.
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