Estate Planning · DuPage County, Illinois
Wills, trusts, and the planning that keeps your family in control and out of court, from the same DuPage County firm since 1990.
A power of attorney is the document that decides who acts for you when you cannot act for yourself — and it is the part of an estate plan that protects you while you are still alive, not just your family after you are gone. Without one, a sudden illness or accident can leave your family unable to pay your bills, manage your accounts, or make medical decisions without going to court for guardianship. With the right powers of attorney in place, the people you trust can step in immediately. We prepare durable financial and health-care powers of attorney that give the right people authority at the moment it is needed.
We draft powers of attorney for clients across DuPage County and the western suburbs, both as standalone documents and as part of a complete plan alongside your will and any trust. You work directly with the attorney preparing your documents, we explain exactly what authority you are granting and when it takes effect, and we make sure the documents meet Illinois requirements so they are honored when your bank, hospital, or doctor is asked to rely on them.
Most adults need at least two, healthcare and financial, and many need additional limited-purpose POAs.
Names an agent to make medical decisions if you can’t speak for yourself. Illinois has a specific statutory form.
Names an agent to handle banking, bills, real estate, and business decisions. Crucial for incapacity.
Stays in effect even after you become incapacitated. The most useful type for estate planning purposes.
Only takes effect upon a triggering event, usually a physician’s incapacity declaration. More restrictive.
Grants authority for a single specific purpose, a real estate closing, a single bank transaction, military deployment.
Companion to healthcare POA, allows your agent to access medical records. Often missing from DIY plans.
We discuss who you’d trust as your agent, alternate agents, and what authority you want them to have.
Illinois statutory forms with your specific provisions, including HIPAA, banking, and successor designations.
We walk you through every clause, then properly execute with notary and any required witnesses.
Originals to your file, copies to your agents and primary doctor. We keep a copy too.
Without POAs, your family must petition the DuPage probate court for authority, expensive, public, and slow.
Illinois requires specific language and execution procedures. Out-of-state or template forms may not work here.
Designate primary, alternate, and successor agents so authority isn’t lost if your first choice can’t serve.
Standard forms grant broad authority. We tailor it, gifting limits, real estate authority, business decisions.
Some banks reject older or non-standard POAs. We use language designed to be accepted across institutions.
Your POAs should align with your will, trust, and beneficiary designations, not contradict them.
People tend to think of powers of attorney as paperwork they can put off, until the day someone has a stroke, a serious accident, or a diagnosis that takes away their ability to manage their own affairs. At that point it is too late to sign one. The only path left for the family is guardianship: a court proceeding to have a judge appoint someone to make financial and personal decisions. It is public, it takes time, it costs far more than the documents would have, and the person the court appoints may not be who you would have chosen.
A durable power of attorney avoids all of that. Because it stays in effect even after you become incapacitated, the person you named can act the moment they are needed, without a courtroom, a petition, or a judge’s permission. Pairing a financial power of attorney with a health-care power of attorney covers both sides of the problem — who manages your money and who makes your medical decisions — and keeps those choices in your hands rather than the state’s. It is one of the simplest, highest-value documents in any plan.
From our Villa Park office, we represent clients across DuPage County and the western suburbs of Chicago.
A power of attorney is a legal document where you (the ‘principal’) authorize someone else (the ‘agent’ or ‘attorney-in-fact’) to act on your behalf for the purposes you specify. It’s separate from being an attorney-at-law, your agent doesn’t need legal training.
A healthcare POA authorizes medical decisions: treatment consent, hospital admission, end-of-life choices. A financial POA authorizes money and property decisions: banking, bills, real estate, taxes. They’re separate documents with different agents allowed.
A ‘durable’ POA takes effect immediately when signed and continues if you become incapacitated. A ‘springing’ POA only takes effect upon a triggering event, usually a physician’s declaration of incapacity. Most estate planning uses durable POAs.
Yes, you can revoke a POA at any time while you’re still competent. Revocation should be in writing, delivered to the agent, and ideally filed with any institutions that have copies (banks, doctors, etc.).
Someone trustworthy, geographically available, willing to serve, and capable of the responsibility. Spouses are common for one POA but you should name an alternate. We help you think through the right choice during your consultation.
Yes. Trusts cover trust-titled assets. POAs cover everything else, bank accounts not in trust, Social Security, Medicare, taxes, healthcare decisions, and many one-off matters. They work together.
That depends on how it is written. A power of attorney can be effective immediately upon signing, or springing, meaning it takes effect only when you become incapacitated, usually as certified by a physician. Many people prefer an immediately effective durable power of attorney for simplicity, since the agent can only be someone they fully trust anyway, but springing powers have their place. We talk through which approach fits your comfort level and your situation before drafting.
They cover two different parts of your life. A financial, or property, power of attorney lets your agent manage money matters — banking, bills, real estate, taxes, and investments. A health-care power of attorney lets a different or the same agent make medical decisions and direct your care if you cannot speak for yourself. Most complete plans include both, because incapacity affects your finances and your health at the same time, and you want trusted people empowered on each front.
POAs are often the most important documents for the next ten years of your life. A free consultation gets you the right ones in less time than you’d expect.