Estate Planning Attorney in Erie, Pennsylvania

If you die without having a legal will in place, what is known as dying “intestate,” the dispersion of your assets is determined by the State. In Pennsylvania, your assets will be divided among your closest living relatives. For example, if you die with children but no spouse, your children will inherit everything. When a spouse survives and there are no children, the spouse will get all your assets. When there is a spouse and surviving children, the spouse inherits the first $30,000 of your intestate property, plus half of the balance, and your children will inherit the rest.

A power of attorney (POA) is a written authorization to represent or act on another person’s behalf in private affairs, legal matters, and financial transactions. The person authorizing the other individual to act is called the principal, grantor, or donor (of the power), while the individual being authorized to act is called the Agent.

There are multiple types of decisions that the attorney-in-fact can be given the power to make, including the power to:

• Make financial decisions
• Make gifts of money
• Make health care decisions, including the ability to consent to giving, withholding, or stopping medical treatments, services, or diagnostic procedures. (Note: your loved one can also make a separate “health care power of attorney” to give only this power to an individual.)
• Recommend a guardian