Key takeaways

  • A durable power of attorney survives the principal's incapacity — a non-durable one doesn't
  • It covers financial/legal matters, not medical decisions, which need a separate document
  • Authority ends at death, not before
  • Certain powers, like gifting assets, must be explicitly stated, not assumed

A power of attorney is a document that lets one person (the agent) act on another person's (the principal's) behalf. It's one of the simplest and most important planning tools available, and also one of the most misunderstood — people often assume it does more, or less, than it actually does.

Durable vs. non-durable

A "durable" power of attorney stays in effect even if the principal later becomes incapacitated — which is the entire point of using one for incapacity planning. A non-durable power of attorney ends automatically if the principal loses capacity, making it useless for the situation most people are trying to plan for. Florida law presumes a power of attorney is durable unless the document says otherwise.

What it doesn't do

A financial power of attorney covers financial and legal matters — banking, property, contracts — not medical decisions, which require a separate health care surrogate designation. It also doesn't survive the principal's death; at that point, authority passes to whoever is named in the will or appointed by the probate court, not the former agent.

Choosing and limiting an agent

Florida law lets a principal grant broad authority or narrowly limit it to specific tasks, and requires certain especially significant powers — like gifting the principal's assets or changing beneficiary designations — to be spelled out explicitly rather than assumed from general language. Choosing an agent is as much about trust as convenience: an agent has significant power and relatively light day-to-day oversight, so it should go to someone with a track record of acting in the principal's interest, not just someone convenient.

Talk to a licensed attorney

This page explains general concepts, not your specific case. If you're dealing with powers of attorney: what they do and don't cover right now, a Florida-licensed attorney can tell you how these rules apply to your facts.