Assess These Attributes Before You Accept The Role Of Power Of Attorney

Accepting the role of power of attorney when a family member asks you isn't a decision that you should automatically make. While one part of you may want to help your loved one rather than turn him or her down, you also need to think about how adequately suited you are to play this role. If you're not the best person for the job, your loved one deserves to know — and he or she can then seek someone else to ask. Here are some attributes about yourself that you should assess before you make your decision.

Financial Know-How

You don't need to be an accountant to assume the role of power of attorney, but this is a role that definitely involves some financial knowledge. If you're the type of person who gets completely daunted with his or her own financial paperwork and often struggles to understand financial content, you may not be properly suited to be a power of attorney. Conversely, if you're competent with managing your own finances and have an interest in banking, investments, and other related topics, you'll likely thrive in this role.

Ability To Manage Time

When you begin to help someone by serving as his or her power of attorney, you'll need to be an effective manager of your time. This new role can take hours of your time each week, which means that you'll need to effectively manage your time to ensure that other things on your plate don't get left behind. Someone who perhaps uses a scheduling app to meticulously plot out each hour of his or her day may be adept at being a power of attorney. Someone who often procrastinates projects until they pile up around him or her and become overwhelming, meanwhile, may not.

Multitasking Skills

Somewhat similarly, you should also be skilled at multitasking. Your everyday life doesn't stop when the person for whom you're serving as power of attorney passes away. Instead, you'll need to juggle your power of attorney tasks with your regular daily obligations. Someone who is singularly focused — that is, good at working on one specific task — may not be ideal for this role because of his or her lack of flexibility. However, someone who always has multiple things going on and is skilled at jumping from one thing to another can succeed as a power of attorney. Upon your self-assessment, you can share your thoughts with the person.

For more information on estate planning, contact law professionals such as Robert Bruce Jones Attorney.

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