When You Can’t Sign Your Name, It’s Too Late to Sign These Documents

A power of attorney only works if it’s already in place before incapacity strikes. After the stroke, after the diagnosis, after the accident—your family can’t create one for you. They petition the court instead. And the court decides who controls your life.

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The Documents That Protect You While You’re Still Alive

Estate planning conversations always drift toward death. Wills. Trusts. Who inherits what. But the documents that may matter most are the ones that protect you while you’re still breathing.

A power of attorney authorizes someone you choose—your “agent”—to act on your behalf when you can’t act for yourself. Financial power of attorney covers your money, your property, your business affairs. Healthcare power of attorney (called a “patient advocate designation” in Michigan) covers medical decisions.

Without these documents, your family faces a brutal reality: even your spouse cannot access your bank accounts. Even your adult children cannot sell your house to pay for your care. Even the people who love you most cannot make medical decisions for you. They have to go to court, petition a judge, and ask for permission—a process that takes months, costs thousands, and puts a stranger in a robe in charge of deciding who controls your life.

Here’s what makes this urgent: you can only sign a power of attorney while you have legal capacity. Once dementia progresses past a certain point, once the stroke takes your ability to understand what you’re signing, once the accident puts you in a coma—it’s over. The window closed. Your family’s only option is the courthouse.

“I’ve watched families spend six months and $15,000 petitioning for conservatorship because their father didn’t have a $200 document in place. He had a trust. He had a will. He just never signed a power of attorney. All that planning, and his family still ended up begging a judge for permission to pay his mortgage. Powers of attorney aren’t optional paperwork—they’re the foundation everything else depends on.”

At Boroja, Bernier & Associates, we make sure your power of attorney documents meet Michigan’s current legal requirements—including the 2024 changes that affect what banks will accept—and actually authorize the powers your agent needs. We’ve seen too many families show up with documents that looked fine but didn’t work when it mattered.

Estate planning consultations available statewide. Phone, video, or in-person at our Shelby Township headquarters.

Michigan’s 2024 Power of Attorney Overhaul: What Changed and Why It Matters

The Michigan Uniform Power of Attorney Act Rewrote the Rules

On July 1, 2024, everything changed. Michigan enacted the Michigan Uniform Power of Attorney Act (MCL 556.201 et seq.), replacing the old statutory framework under MCL 700.5501-5505 entirely. If you signed a financial power of attorney before that date, it’s probably still valid—but that doesn’t mean it still works smoothly.

Here’s the problem: banks know about the new law. Financial institutions know about the new law. And increasingly, they expect documents that comply with it. Your 2019 power of attorney may be legally valid under MCL 556.206, but if the bank’s compliance department wants an agent’s acknowledgment form that didn’t exist under the old law, you’ve got friction.

What the Uniform Power of Attorney Act actually changed:

Execution requirements got stricter (MCL 556.205). A financial power of attorney must now be either signed before a notary public OR signed in the presence of two witnesses (neither of whom can be the agent). Under MCL 556.204, a power of attorney executed in accordance with these requirements is presumed durable unless it expressly states otherwise. Documents valid under prior law remain valid under MCL 556.206, but new documents must meet these standards.

Agents should sign an acknowledgment before acting (MCL 556.213). Before exercising any powers under a durable power of attorney, agents are supposed to execute a written acknowledgment accepting their responsibilities. Here’s the nuance most people miss: under MCL 556.213(3), an agent’s failure to sign this acknowledgment does NOT affect their authority to act, does NOT alter their duties, and does NOT reduce their potential liability. The acknowledgment is required—but the power still works without it. That said, financial institutions can request the acknowledgment before accepting the power under MCL 556.219(3), so having it ready avoids delays.

Specific powers require specific language (MCL 556.301). This is the one that catches people. Under MCL 556.301(1), certain actions require explicit authorization in the document—general language isn’t enough:

• Creating, amending, revoking, or terminating an inter vivos trust
• Making gifts
• Creating or changing rights of survivorship
• Changing beneficiary designations
• Delegating authority to another person
• Waiving the principal’s right to be a beneficiary of certain annuities
• Exercising fiduciary powers the principal has authority to delegate
• Accessing content of electronic communications
• Exercising authority over foreign financial accounts

If your power of attorney doesn’t explicitly grant these powers, your agent cannot exercise them. Period.

Third parties can’t just refuse anymore (MCL 556.220). Financial institutions must accept a properly executed and acknowledged power of attorney within seven business days of presentation. They can request additional documentation under MCL 556.219(4)—certifications, translations, opinions of counsel—but they can’t simply stonewall. If they refuse in violation of the statute, they’re liable for attorney fees and costs. This is good news—but only if your document actually complies.

Agent duties are now codified (MCL 556.214). The law explicitly requires agents to act in accordance with the principal’s reasonable expectations (or best interest if expectations aren’t known), act in good faith, act only within the scope of granted authority, and keep reasonable records. Additional presumptive duties include acting loyally, avoiding conflicts of interest, and acting with care, competence, and diligence. This creates accountability—and potential liability for agents who don’t follow the rules.

What this means for your existing documents: If your power of attorney was signed before July 1, 2024, it remains legally valid under MCL 556.206(1). But “legally valid” and “smoothly accepted” aren’t the same thing. We recommend reviewing older documents and potentially updating them—not because the law requires it, but because avoiding friction matters when your family is already dealing with a crisis.

Financial Power of Attorney: Who Controls Your Money When You Can’t

The Document That Keeps Your Financial Life Running

A durable financial power of attorney authorizes your agent to handle your financial affairs—banking, investments, real estate, taxes, business operations—when you’re unable to handle them yourself. “Durable” means the power survives your incapacity under MCL 556.202(d). That’s the whole point. A non-durable power of attorney terminates exactly when you need it most.

What your agent can typically do with general authority:

Under MCL 556.303, a power of attorney that grants general authority allows your agent to:

• Demand, receive, and obtain money or property you’re entitled to
• Contract on your behalf and perform, modify, or terminate contracts
• Execute documents to accomplish authorized transactions
• Settle, oppose, or compromise claims and litigation
• Engage attorneys, accountants, and other advisors
• Communicate with government agencies on your behalf

Specific subject-matter authorities are defined in MCL 556.304-556.316, covering:

• Real property transactions (MCL 556.304)
• Tangible personal property (MCL 556.305)
• Stocks and bonds (MCL 556.306)
• Banks and financial institutions (MCL 556.308)
• Business operations (MCL 556.309)
• Insurance and annuities (MCL 556.310)
• Retirement plans (MCL 556.315)
• Taxes (MCL 556.316)

What requires explicit authorization under MCL 556.301:

This is where generic forms fail. These powers don’t transfer through general language—they must be specifically granted:

• Creating, amending, or revoking a trust (your agent can’t fund your living trust without this)
• Making gifts, including annual exclusion gifts for tax planning
• Changing beneficiary designations on retirement accounts or life insurance
• Creating or changing survivorship rights on accounts or property
• Delegating authority to another person
• Exercising fiduciary powers you have authority to delegate

Why this matters: Imagine you become incapacitated with assets still outside your living trust. Your agent needs to fund those assets into the trust to avoid probate. Without explicit trust-modification authority in your power of attorney, they can’t do it. The whole point of your trust planning falls apart because of one missing grant of authority.

Important limitation under MCL 556.301(2): Unless your power of attorney provides otherwise, an agent who is NOT your ancestor, spouse, or descendant cannot use the power to benefit themselves or someone they owe support to—even if gifting authority is granted. This prevents non-family agents from self-dealing, but the document can expand or narrow this restriction.

At Boroja, Bernier & Associates, we discuss these specific powers with every client. We don’t use generic forms that include everything or nothing. We draft documents that grant the powers you actually want your agent to have—and explicitly withhold powers you don’t.

Healthcare Power of Attorney: Who Speaks for You in the Hospital

Michigan’s Patient Advocate Designation

When you can’t communicate with doctors, someone else must. Without a designated patient advocate, medical providers make decisions based on their professional judgment, and your family may have no legal authority to override them—even if they know exactly what you’d want.

Michigan calls this document a “Patient Advocate Designation.” It’s governed by MCL 700.5506-5515, which is explicitly excluded from the Uniform Power of Attorney Act under MCL 556.203(b). Different law, different requirements, different document.

What your patient advocate can do:

• Make decisions about medical treatment, surgery, and procedures
• Access your medical records (with the accompanying HIPAA authorization)
• Choose healthcare providers and facilities
• Make decisions about medications and therapies
• Authorize or refuse life-sustaining treatment if you’ve granted that authority
• Make anatomical gift decisions (organ donation)
• Make decisions about mental health treatment

Activation requirement: Under Michigan law, your patient advocate designation only activates when your attending physician determines you’re unable to participate in medical treatment decisions. Until that determination, you make your own decisions. This isn’t optional—it’s how MCL 700.5508 works.

The life-sustaining treatment question: Michigan law requires specific language authorizing your patient advocate to make decisions about life-sustaining treatment. Under MCL 700.5506(5), if you want your advocate to have authority to refuse or withdraw treatment that would allow you to die, you must expressly grant that authority. General language isn’t enough.

This works with your living will: Your patient advocate designation names who makes decisions. Your living will (healthcare directive) tells them what decisions you’d want made. The advocate applies your stated wishes to actual medical situations. Both documents matter.

Learn more about Living Wills / Healthcare Directives

Choosing the Right Agent: The Decision That Matters Most

Your Documents Are Only as Good as the Person Holding Them

We can draft the most comprehensive, legally bulletproof power of attorney Michigan has ever seen. It means nothing if you hand it to someone who can’t—or won’t—use it properly.

For financial power of attorney, your agent needs:

• Trustworthiness that goes beyond “they’d never steal from me.” Financial management during incapacity is complicated. Your agent needs to be someone whose judgment you trust completely.
• Availability. If your agent lives three states away and works 70-hour weeks, they may not be able to respond when immediate action is needed.
• Financial competence. They don’t need to be an accountant, but they need to understand basic financial management. Paying bills, tracking accounts, communicating with advisors—this isn’t complicated, but it requires attention.
• Willingness to serve. Being named as someone’s agent is a responsibility, not an honor. Make sure your agent actually wants the job.

For patient advocate, your agent needs:

• Knowledge of your values. Medical decisions often involve trade-offs between quantity and quality of life. Your advocate needs to understand what matters to you—not just in general terms, but specifically.
• Emotional fortitude. Making end-of-life decisions for someone you love is brutal. Your advocate needs to be someone who can make hard calls under pressure without falling apart.
• Availability and proximity. Medical crises don’t wait for convenient timing. Your advocate may need to be at the hospital, talking to doctors, making decisions in real time.
• Willingness to advocate. Some people defer to authority automatically. Your advocate needs to be someone who will push back on medical providers if that’s what honoring your wishes requires.

Can you name the same person for both? Yes, and many people do—typically a spouse. But it’s not required. Some people separate financial and healthcare authority because the skill sets are different. Your brother the accountant might be perfect for managing your investments and terrible at making medical decisions under pressure. Think about what each role actually requires.

Successor agents matter. Under MCL 556.211, you can designate successor agents who serve if your primary agent resigns, dies, becomes incapacitated, or declines to serve. What if your primary agent can’t serve when you need them? Naming successors ensures someone is always available to step in.

Co-agents are an option. MCL 556.211(1) allows you to name two or more co-agents. Unless your power provides otherwise, each co-agent can act independently. You can require them to act together if you want built-in accountability—but that creates logistical challenges when signatures are needed quickly.

Immediate vs. Springing Powers: When Does Authority Begin?

A Choice Most People Don’t Realize They’re Making

Under MCL 556.209, a power of attorney is effective when executed unless you provide that it becomes effective at a specified future date or upon a specified event or contingency—like your incapacity.

Immediate power of attorney:

• Takes effect as soon as you sign it
• Agent can act right away, whether you’re incapacitated or not
• Simpler for financial institutions to accept
• Requires high trust in your agent
• Useful if you want your agent helping with finances now

Springing power of attorney:

• Only takes effect upon incapacity
• Under MCL 556.209(3), if you don’t authorize someone specific to determine incapacity, it requires a physician or licensed psychologist to certify you’re incapacitated
• Provides protection against premature use
• Can create delays when your agent actually needs to act
• Financial institutions may be more skeptical—they want certainty about whether the power is “active”

Our take: For most people, immediate powers with a trusted agent work better than springing powers with barriers to use. The protection from a springing power is illusory if you’ve chosen an agent you trust—and the delay it creates can be genuinely harmful. If you don’t trust your agent enough to give them immediate authority, you may have the wrong agent.

That said, springing powers make sense in some situations. We’ll discuss what works for your circumstances.

When Powers of Attorney Don’t Work—And What Happens Instead

Guardianship and Conservatorship: The Expensive Alternative

If you become incapacitated without a valid power of attorney, your family’s only option is court intervention. In Michigan, that means petitioning for guardianship (for personal and healthcare decisions) or conservatorship (for financial decisions)—or both.

What this process looks like:

1. Someone files a petition with the probate court alleging you’re incapacitated
2. The court appoints an attorney to represent your interests (a “guardian ad litem”)
3. Medical evidence of incapacity must be presented
4. A hearing is held where a judge determines whether you’re legally incapacitated
5. If so, the judge appoints someone to make decisions for you

What this costs: Attorney fees, court costs, guardian ad litem fees, physician fees for capacity evaluations. Total cost typically runs $5,000-$10,000 or more for a contested proceeding. Even uncontested cases cost several thousand dollars.

How long it takes: Minimum of several weeks. Contested cases can take months. During this time, bills go unpaid, medical decisions get made without family input, and your financial life sits in limbo.

Who gets appointed: Usually the petitioner—often a family member. But not always. If family members disagree about who should serve, or if the court has concerns about any candidate, a professional guardian or conservator may be appointed. A stranger, making decisions about your life, billing your estate for the privilege.

The ongoing supervision: Unlike powers of attorney, guardians and conservators answer to the court. Annual reports. Accountings. Court approval for major decisions. Your affairs become public record. This oversight protects incapacitated people from exploitation—but it’s invasive, time-consuming, and expensive.

The nomination option: Under MCL 556.208, you can nominate a conservator or guardian in your power of attorney. If a protective proceeding becomes necessary despite your planning, the court must consider your nomination. This gives you some control even in worst-case scenarios.

A properly drafted power of attorney avoids all of this. We’ve watched families spend tens of thousands of dollars on guardianship proceedings that proper planning would have prevented entirely.

Michigan Power of Attorney Questions—Answered Directly

When Your Power of Attorney Situation Needs Professional Attention

You’ve never signed power of attorney documents: This is the most common situation—and the most dangerous. Every adult should have both financial and healthcare powers of attorney in place. The window to create them closes the moment you lose capacity.

Your documents were signed before July 2024: Michigan’s Uniform Power of Attorney Act changed the landscape significantly. Your old documents remain valid, but reviewing them against current requirements makes sense. We can tell you whether updating is necessary or just advisable.

Your circumstances have changed: The agent you named in 2015 may not be the right choice today. Divorce, estrangement, death, relocation—any of these can make your existing documents outdated or unusable.

You’re not sure what powers your documents actually grant: Many people have powers of attorney they’ve never read carefully. If you don’t know whether your document authorizes your agent to make gifts, fund your trust, or change beneficiary designations under MCL 556.301, you don’t know whether your estate plan actually works.

You’ve been named as someone else’s agent: Understanding your duties under MCL 556.214—and your potential liability under MCL 556.217—matters before you start acting. We can explain what Michigan law requires and how to fulfill your responsibilities properly.

Your family is dealing with someone else’s incapacity: If powers of attorney exist, we can help your family understand how to use them. If they don’t exist, we can guide you through the guardianship/conservatorship process as efficiently as possible.

At Boroja, Bernier & Associates, we create power of attorney documents that meet Michigan’s current requirements and actually authorize what your agent needs to do. Schedule a consultation to get these essential documents in place.

The Window to Create These Documents Closes Without Warning

You can’t predict when incapacity will strike. The stroke that changes everything happens on an ordinary Tuesday. The car accident happens on the way to pick up groceries. The diagnosis comes at a routine checkup.

By the time these events happen, it’s too late to sign the documents that would have made everything easier. Your family petitions the court. A judge decides who controls your life. Your affairs become public record. Thousands of dollars get spent on proceedings that a few hundred dollars of planning would have prevented.

At Boroja, Bernier & Associates, we create power of attorney documents that actually work—drafted for Michigan’s current law, including the 2024 Uniform Power of Attorney Act that catches other firms off guard. We make sure the powers you want your agent to have are explicitly granted under MCL 556.301. We make sure the documents will be accepted when your family presents them to banks, brokerages, and hospitals.

Excellence is contagious, mediocrity is too. We don’t hand clients generic forms and hope for the best. We build documents designed for your situation, compliant with current law, and ready to function when your family needs them most.

Schedule a consultation. Get these documents in place while you still can.

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Email: admin@bbalawmi.com

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Estate planning consultations available statewide—by phone, video, or in person at our Shelby Township headquarters.