Why can’t I download a Financial Power of Attorney form here on your website?
WVSLA does not provide a downloadable Financial Power of Attorney form, nor do we provide any links to any downloadable forms for Financial Power of Attorney. We have a couple of resources available here that among other things explain how dangerous a Financial Power of Attorney can be. Not everybody needs one, and you can open yourself up to financial exploitation by executing one. There is a lot of legal mythology about financial powers of attorney, so even smart people can have misunderstandings about how they work that can result in devastating losses. Please check out our brochure about Financial Powers of Attorney and the WV Financial Exploitation Task Force’s brochure about Financial Exploitation to find more about the role of power of attorney in financial abuse.
Bottom line: no one should execute a Financial Power of Attorney without first consulting with attorney.
Why doesn’t WVSLA provide free wills for seniors?
Our mission is to use law to help seniors keep their homes, income security, access to healthcare, and personal autonomy. Wills are about who gets your stuff when you die. The people who benefit from wills are not the senior who makes a will, but the people who will inherit, the actual legal beneficiaries. We have a duty to carefully use our very scarce resources to serve the important legal needs of living seniors, not the needs of their children or other heirs.
And for most people your stuff will legally be inherited by the people you want anyway even if you die without a will. It’s a myth that the state gets your stuff if you die without a will. We are happy to offer any WV seniors a personal consultation about who would inherit from you if you die without a will, how probate works for your heirs, how to think about planning for taking care of the people you love after you die, etc. If you then determine that you need a will we can help you get contact info for lawyers near you who do wills. Simple wills are not terribly expensive.