Word: agents
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...granted the rights associated with a POA was pretty uncomplicated under the old document. Only one signature was required - that of the principal assigning POA to the agent. In some cases, the agent - usually an offspring - didn't even know he or she had been named in the document until the principal became unable to take care of day-to-day financial affairs. Such secrecy generally led to confusion down the road, with the appointee often woefully ignorant of the principal's state of affairs. In other instances, a health-care aide or housekeeper with ulterior motives might procure...
...power of attorney has teeth," says Ronald Fatoullah, an elder-law and estate-planning attorney in New York. One safeguard is a multiplicity of signatures. Now both the principal and the agent must sign the POA, and each signature must be notarized. "This is a big change," he says. "The document specifically states that when you accept the authority to act as agent, you create a special fiduciary relationship with the principal that imposes legal responsibilities until you resign or the power of attorney is terminated." (Read "The Real Issues of End-of-Life Care...
...Another important provision of the statute is the right of the principal to appoint a monitor, like a trusted accountant, to oversee the activities of an inexperienced agent, or a family member to ensure that an agent acts according to the principal's wishes. Those who have POA must now keep records and account for every penny, which was not a requirement under the previous law, says Louis Pierro, an elder-law and estate-planning attorney in New York, adding, "The new law makes it easier to bring a civil suit against an agent who has acted inappropriately...
...goes even further when addressing gift-giving. In the past, it was relatively easy for people expecting to be named as agents to slip into the POA a self-serving gift-giving provision. Because these write-ins would often be overlooked by the principal, it was possible for agents to write checks to benefit themselves and clean out a principal's bank account. Now such doings will be harder to get away with. If the principal wants to grant the agent the specific power to make gifts, the principal must initial a box on the POA authorization form, and then...
...research center that will focus on improving the understanding of infectious diseases and making information on the subject more accessible to the public and policy makers. The Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics will be funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study (MIDAS) with a renewable grant of approximately $2 million a year for five years. The new HSPH organization will become MIDAS’s second “Center of Excellence,” and will be devoted both to research and its applications. The first is located...