What is Power of Attorney?

A Power of Attorney is a legal document that authorizes one or more persons or entities, called an agent, to act on behalf of the person or entity that gives the Power of Attorney, known as the principal, in the event that the principal cannot act or make those decisions due to various reasons such as busy schedule, being outside the country, illness or not having enough knowledge in a particular field etc. So, a Power of Attorney (also known as a POA) allows you to give legal permission to someone else to act on your behalf.

A Power of Attorney can be general, known as general power of attorney, that gives broad and usually unlimited powers, or it can be specific, called special power of attorney, that gives only specified and limited powers to your agent. Thus a Power of Attorney is a quite flexible document that can be tailored to your specific needs. In order to avoid a misuse of a Power of Attorney by an agent, it should be carefully drafted taking into consideration your requirements and will.