Changing or Revoking Your Durable Power of Attorney, Living Will, and/or Health Care Durable Power of Attorney
What needs to be done to change or revoke your Durable Power of Attorney, Living Will, and/or Health Care Durable Power of Attorney? How do you do it?
Durable Power of Attorney
It is possible to amend a durable power of attorney, but in most cases the better approach is to revoke it and execute an entirely new document. With the execution of a new document, there will be no question about the validity of your intentions. You can revoke your DPOA as long as you are mentally competent and follow your state’s formalities.
If the actual document was never given to anyone, you simply need to destroy it. However, if you have provided your agent and any other financial institutions with a copy of the document, you will need to have another document prepared that revokes your power of attorney. This document should be acknowledged and witnessed in the same manner as your original power of attorney.
Then you need to send a notice of the revocation along with a copy of the document to your attorney-in-fact. You also should send a copy of the revocation to any persons or institutions that have copies of your revoked DPOA or that may have relied on it and to any government offices where your revoked DPOA was filed.
When you execute a new DPOA, it can include a statement that you have revoked the previous one.
DPOA’s are automatically revoked upon death.
Changing or Revoking Your Living Will and Health Care Durable Power of Attorney
You can revoke or change your living will or health care durable power of attorney at any time so long as you are mentally competent.
Especially appropriate times to review your living will and healthcare durable power of attorney are before you enter the hospital for treatment, when you are diagnosed with a serious illness, and if your marital status changes.
The safest practice is to destroy the original and execute a written revocation or new documents expressing your current desires. Then you should be sure to give the new documents to everyone to whom you gave the old ones, i.e., your current agent and alternate, your doctor, and hospital or care facility, and family members.
You can also revoke your living will and health care DPOA by telling your care providers that you no longer want them to follow it. A divorce will typically revoke your health care DPOA if you named your former spouse as your agent.
