You have to sign it while you can
A financial power of attorney lets someone you choose — your agent — handle money for you. Pay the bills. Talk to the bank. Deal with the mortgage.
You sign it while you understand what you’re doing, in front of a notary. After a stroke, a bad accident, or advanced dementia, that window can close. Your family can’t sign it for you later.
Durable is the default
Utah’s power of attorney act is Title 75A, Chapter 2. Under that chapter, a power of attorney is durable unless it says it ends when you lose capacity.
Durable means it keeps working after you can’t manage things yourself. That’s the point. Older documents, or documents from another state, may read differently. Some only start after a doctor signs off. Pull yours out and read it.
Your spouse is not automatically your agent
Being married doesn’t give your spouse authority over everything in your name. A joint account is one thing. An IRA in your name alone is another.
If the house is in both names, selling or refinancing generally takes both signatures. Without a power of attorney, the next step is often a court conservatorship. That means filings, a hearing, and court oversight.
If your spouse is your agent and you file for divorce, Utah law generally ends that authority unless the document says otherwise.
It stops at death
Utah law says a power of attorney ends when you die. The agent does not become the trustee. The agent does not become the personal representative.
Your will or your trust takes over from there. This document covers your life. Those cover what happens after. It does not replace either one.
Two financial forms, and a separate medical one
The complete plan includes a durable financial power of attorney and the state statutory form institutions often ask to see. Name an agent and a backup.
Health care is a different document. I wrote the longer version of the financial side in what people get wrong about power of attorney, and the medical side in Utah’s health care directive.
Individual plans start at $2,500. Joint plans start at $3,500. See pricing and estate planning. Book a time if you want me to read the form in the drawer. I’m licensed in Utah, Arizona, and Texas.