Wondering how to take power of attorney away from someone?

A vast majority of people often opt for a power of attorney for making key decisions in their life. Simply put, a power of attorney is a written letter that authorizes an individual to make choices on behalf of someone in business, private affairs, or other legal proceedings. Most people usually appoint another person to handle their affairs when they are mentally unfit to do so themselves.

However, if you think you are mentally competent to take on the challenge, you can always cancel it by following a few simple steps. Here is a brief overview of how to take a power of attorney away from someone:

Step 1: How to relinquish power of attorney

For starters, you need to fill out a power of attorney revoke form to confirm your decision. Clear and concise, this power of attorney revoke form must state you’re clear intention to withdraw power of attorney. To increase the authenticity of your form, you should not only sign it but also notarize the cancellation.

Once the revocation form is complete, you should make a copy of the revocation for all copies of your power of attorney. When you are canceling your power of attorney, you should confirm and verify that another individual cannot make use of your rescinded attorney.

Step 2: How to relinquish power of attorney

After you complete the power of attorney revoke form, you should alert your agent of the withdrawal in writing at your earliest. When notifying your agent of this cancellation, try to send out a copy of the form along with the power of attorney.

Moreover, after sending in the revocation letter, the work isn’t all done. You should conduct a proper follow-up where you send a letter to the agent, taking away his/her authority to make important decisions on your end.

Additionally, you can ask for all the copies of the power of attorney to be given back to you. Ensure that they are fully able to grasp the concept; By sending a power of attorney to revoke form, you take away the power of your agent to make key decisions for you in important business, legal or personal matters.

Step 3: How to relinquish power of attorney

If you’re still perplexed about how to take power of attorney away from someone, here’s a round-up of what we have established so far: Use a power revocation form, make copies of all power of attorney’s and inform your agent of your intention to cancel the attorney.

In addition to informing your agent about the cancellation, you should also notify other third parties involved in the revocation process. These may include financial intermediaries, real estate agents, health care experts, investment consultants, or other relevant persons. After updating the third parties involved, you must request them to destroy the power of attorney and send evidence of this removal.

Step 4: How to relinquish power of attorney:

Once you have figured how to take a power of attorney away from someone, you can move ahead with mentioning a new individual to act on your behalf in important legal, financial, or business matters. Just ensure that you have canceled all your previous copies of the power of attorney, to reduce the chances of confusion and mismanagement.

Hence, the process of taking a power of attorney away from someone is fairly simple if you follow the steps. However, it is important to note that you have the authority to cancel your power of attorney at any time. Many times, people end up relinquishing their power of attorney simply because they change their minds. Here are some other reasons that account for revocation of power of attorney:

A change in relationship

More often than not, a power of attorney usually considers a close family member or friend to act as the deciding agent. But relationships are known to suffer the wrath of time and your connection with that person may be very different from what it was when the document was signed. If such is the case, you can withdraw the power of attorney and appoint a new one at your convenience.

A change in availability

Having a power of attorney is a fairly sensitive matter. Despite the agent acting on your behalf, the person must be on the same page as you; that is, the individual should ideally live in the same city as you, so they can handle private and legal affairs more effectively. If your agent ends up moving abroad or has other, more pressing matters on their plate, then a change of power of attorney is required on your side. Simply put, you require someone who is available to take on your role in matters fully and diligently. Hence, if you feel the availability of your agent is less than adequate, you can proceed to cancel the power of attorney.

A change in the mind of your agent

The chance of your agent losing interest is rare, but still very much possible. In such a case, your agent may experience feelings of uncertainty about continuing with the role. An agent should always be someone trustworthy and efficient, who is capable of acting in your best interest. Hence, if he changes his mind or expresses doubts about continuing with the job, you can accept their decision and revoke the power of attorney.

A change in mental abilities

To essay the role of an agent effectively, it is important that he/she should be mentally stable. This means that the said agent must be able to take vital decisions on his own, including the management of finances, handling complex matters, and negotiating in business affairs. The task of an agent requires him/her to be agile and astute. Hence, if you think that he is unable to follow through with these responsibilities due to mental illness or other problems, you can withdraw your power of attorney.

Thus, if you’re contemplating on how to take power of attorney away from someone, you just need to follow a set of steps and the job will be done. As established above, revoking a power of attorney can be due to a plethora of reasons. However, you need to ensure that you are following the process with due diligence as failure to comply may result in severe consequences.