Does a power of attorney end at death? Yes.

What a power of attorney is for

A power of attorney, or POA, is a document in which you give another person, called your agent, the right to act for you. A financial POA covers things like paying bills, managing accounts and signing documents. It exists for the time you are alive but cannot manage things yourself, because of illness, an accident or dementia.

A durable power of attorney is one that keeps working after you lose the ability to make decisions. That is the kind most people need. Durable describes incapacity. It does not mean the document survives death.

What happens at death

At death the POA stops. The agent may no longer sign checks, move money or sell anything, even to pay for the funeral. Once a bank learns of the death, it freezes accounts that were in the person's sole name.

Authority then passes to the executor named in the will, once the court has confirmed them. Until that happens there can be a gap of days or weeks when nobody can act. Accounts with a named beneficiary or a surviving joint owner are not caught in that gap, which is one reason payable on death forms are so useful.

An agent who keeps using a POA after the death, even with good intentions, is acting without authority and can be made to repay what they moved.

The same person can be both

Many people name the same trusted person as agent under the POA and as executor in the will. That is fine. They are still two roles under two documents, and one ends where the other begins.

The documents most adults need

• A durable financial power of attorney, so someone can pay your bills if you cannot.
• A health care directive, sometimes called a health care proxy or power of attorney for health care, which names who speaks for you to doctors and records your wishes.
• A will, which names your executor and says who receives what.

The first two cover the time you are alive but unable to act. The third covers what follows. Missing any one leaves a gap. For the full picture, including beneficiary names and living trusts, see which paper does what.

Information is not authority, and you need both

A power of attorney gives your agent the right to act. It does not tell them which bank you use or what the phone passcode is. In a SuddenGone account you can choose one person who, if you are alive but unable to act, is given only the sections they need: the bills, your health notes, the phone. They report it with a doctor's letter, a person reviews it, and a waiting period runs that you or anyone you named can stop. The power of attorney then lets them use what they have been shown.

Making them yourself

You do not need anyone's permission to make these. Many states publish a standard form for a financial power of attorney and for a health care directive, and hospitals often hand out the health care one. Whichever way you make yours, it counts only once it is signed the way your state requires, which often means a notary, witnesses or both. Check the rule where you live, then record in one place how each document was made and where the signed original is.

Sign while you are well

A POA has to be signed while you understand what you are signing. If someone loses that capacity without one, the family usually has to ask a court to appoint a guardian or conservator. That takes time, costs money and is public. This is the strongest reason not to put it off.

Practical points

• Tell your agent they are named and where the signed document is.
• Ask your bank whether it wants its own POA form on file. Some do.
• Review the document every few years, and after a divorce or a death in the family.
• A POA can take effect right away or only on incapacity. Decide which suits you before you sign, and make sure the document says so.