[WSBAPT] Quick Question: Can Health Care Powers of Attorney be effective immediately?

[Marcus Fry]

I always advise clients about springing and effective immediately, but point out administrative hurdles and time delays that can happen to prove incapacity for a springing POA.  Moreover, I state that if you do not trust the person to act properly as your fiduciary when you have capacity, then you shouldn’t be trusting them to act on your behalf when you are incapacitated.  With that said, I deal with a wealth of cases of bad acting POAs and trustees, who fail to understand what it means to be a fiduciary.

Marcus J. Fry
Lyon, Weigand & Gustafson, P.S.
P.O. Box 1689
Yakima, Washington  98907
Telephone:  (509) 248-7220
Facsimile:  (509) 575-1883

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From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Brent Williams-Ruth
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2018 10:52 AM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv
Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] Quick Question: Can Health Care Powers of Attorney be effective immediately?

I will say that virtually ALL of my Healthcare POA are effective immediately - and I use my own story as example as to why.

My lovely mother, who takes about 400 different medications, left behind her mini-cooler of meds at the TSA check-point as she and my father were heading to a 2 week European River Boat cruise.  After 56 hours of cold turkey - she was in an Amsterdam ER and was in no position to talk.  Legally incapacitated? Who knows, but I (as her back-up POA) was able to contact her doctor and have them fax to the hospital in Amsterdam, a list of all her medications.

I advise my clients that not every decision is about ending life - sometimes it just about the ability to help out when they could not help themselves.

PS to that story - the doctor's office (who has known me since I as 8 years old - I now 42) refused to accept the POA via fax or email since my Mother did not provide it to them directly herself. I dropped everything and drove from Seattle to Gig Harbor only to have them say that they really value patient privacy and admitted that this was their own rule for accepting a POA. Now I tell my clients to take a copy to put on file - just in case.





On Wed, Jul 25, 2018 at 10:38 AM, John Yip <johntyip at gmail.com<mailto:johntyip at gmail.com>> wrote:
RCW 11.125.090 seems to say "yes," but virtually all of the health care powers of attorney I have seen or drafted only take effect upon the person's incapacity.  Is there any law or major practical reason why health care powers of attorney cannot be effective immediately?

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Brent Williams-Ruth
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BWR Consulting, PLLC

Phone: (425) 830-5134

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