Attorney-in-fact

What it means

The document is the power of attorney; the person it appoints is the attorney-in-fact, also called the agent. No legal training is involved and no bar membership is required.

The authority is only as wide as the document makes it, and it ends when the person who granted it dies.

Why it matters

The word attorney makes people assume a lawyer is involved, and makes the person appointed assume more authority than they have.

The ending matters most. A power of attorney dies with the person who gave it, and several motor vehicle departments warn their own clerks about exactly this, because families keep presenting one after a death.

When you are likely to meet it

• On any power of attorney form.
• When a bank asks who the agent is.
• At a counter that has just refused a power of attorney after a death.

How this varies by state

What an agent may do, how the document must be signed and when it ends are all set by state law.

Related terms

• Durable power of attorneyA power of attorney that keeps working after the person who signed it loses the ability to make decisions — which is usually the whole point of signing one.
• Fiduciary dutyThe obligation to act for somebody else's benefit rather than your own — and to be able to show you did.
• Health care agentThe person named in a health care proxy to make medical decisions when the patient cannot.
• Personal representativeThe neutral term for whoever is authorized to act for an estate, whether named in a will or appointed by a court.
• Power of attorneyA document letting somebody act for you while you are alive — and which stops working the moment you die.
• Springing power of attorneyA power of attorney that only takes effect once a stated condition is met — usually a doctor confirming the person can no longer manage their affairs.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Power of attorney