CHECKLIST TO CONSIDER IF YOU

NEED A NEW OR REVISED POWER

OF ATTORNEY IN NEW JERSEY

• Is your General Durable Power of Attorney more than 10 years old?  If so, banks in New Jersey are not required to accept it. We recommend that your General Durable power of Attorney and Living Will be updated or reviewed every 5 to years or so. 

• Does your General Durable Power of Attorney continue to name the appropriate representative for you? You are allowed to name one or more attorney(s)-in-fact to act in your place with reference to your financial matters in the event that you are unable to do so. You should verify that your named attor ney(s)-in-fact and any successors have current addresses.

• Does your General Durable Power of Attorney allow for Medicaid and estate tax planning or gifting? Many persons want the ability to engage in asset protection planning to shelter assets from the cost of nursing home care and death taxes. Your General Durable Power of Attorney should specifically grant your attorney(s)-in-fact the power to engage in this type of plan ning. We are recommending to all or our clients that they update their General Durable Power of Attorney if it does not specifically authorize this type of planning in the future. 

• Does your Health Care Power of Attorney reference the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA")? The HIPAA privacy rules have created a new category of private information called "Protected Health Information" (PHI) or "Protected Medical Information" (PMI). In order to avoid any issues about the persons to whom your health care provider may divulge your PHI, you should specifically state who has the right to receive your PHI. We are recommend ing to all of our clients that they update their Health Care Powers of Attorney to include a HIPAA provi sion to avoid any inability of a Health Care Representative to receive information in the event of medical emergency.

Probating a Will is New Jersey Estate Administration