You will need these details when you consult with a lawyer who will decide the right type of POA to use in your case. 5. Include all your assets and liabilities in your document. Make sure that your power-of-attorney form properly documents all the necessary information that can guide your agent in making the right legal decisions for you. Aside from that, the document could specify that the durable power of attorney could take effect in the event the principal becomes disabled. The durable power of attorney could cover different decisions and responsibilities, aside from health care decisions, like: Providing gifts which can play a major part in estate tax planning. Anybody can be given the power of attorney, even people who are not lawyers, although most of those who are given such responsibilities are family lawyers of rich people or corporate lawyers of big corporations, whose job entails them to represent the CEOs or the big bosses, which are often required to be in three places at the same time, which is of course, not humanly possible. This legal document comes in handy when you incur an injury or develop a life-threatening disease, both of which render you incapable of making decisions on your own. In case you become physically or mentally incapacitated, how could you possibly pay your bills and mortgages or conduct transactions at the bank? Durable simple means the agent is mandated to continue making decisions for the principal especially if the latter becomes incapacitated. However, the law states that the agent should be obliged to act only in the best interest of the principal. Thus, the money and properties involved must only be used for the benefit of the principal. You can just send a representative with the power of attorney and that person can sign the contract for you. But for all its benefits, the power of attorney can also be a bane when not done the right way and when put into the wrong hands. What is a power of attorney? Before we can discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using a power of attorney, you must first understand that exactly is the concept.