Changes coming to Durable Powers of Attorney?

Following on the heels of changes in New York's law regarding powers of attorney, the New Jersey Law Revision Commission was scheduled to discuss at its July meeting a memorandum comparing New Jersey's existing law on durable powers of attorney with New York's changes to its law.

The memo, available here, compares the new law in New York and current law in New Jersey.

Among the changes adopted in New York outlined in the memo-- the new form of power of attorney

"is not valid until it is signed by both the principal and agent, whose signatures are duly acknowledged in the manner prescribed for the acknowledgement of a conveyance of real property. The effective date of the power of attorney as to a given agent is the date on which that agent’s signature is acknowledged. If two or more agents are designated to act together, the power of attorney takes effect when all the agents so designated have signed the power of attorney and their signatures have been acknowledged."

"A grant of authority to make major gifts and other asset transfers must be set out in a separate rider which contains the principal’s signature, duly notarized and witnessed by two persons not named in the instrument as permissible recipients of gifts or other transfers, in the same manner as a will. In the alternative, the principal may grant such authority to the agent in a nonstatutory power of attorney executed in the same manner as a major gifts rider. An agent acting pursuant to the authority granted by this rider or nonstatutory power of attorney must act in accordance with the instructions of the principal or, in the absence of such instructions, in the principal’s best interests."

"The agent must sign the power of attorney as an acknowledgment of the agent’s
fiduciary obligations if the agent intends to accept the appointment. In transactions on behalf of the principal, the agent’s legal relationship to the principal must be disclosed where a handwritten signature is required."

The minutes of the Commission's July meeting have not yet been released and an inquiry seeking more information has not yet received a response.

We'll keep you posted.

A tip of the hat to Nickolas Nasuta, Esq. for pointing us to these developments.

For your next title order,
or if you have questions about what you see here,

contact Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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