Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025
Frequently, I have clients in my office confused about the difference between a Personal Representative and an Attorney-in-Fact. An Attorney-in-Fact gets their power from an executed Power of Attorney document. The Attorney-in-Fact is only able to function in their capacity so long as the Principal (individual giving the power) is still alive. Upon the Principal’s death, the Attorney-in-Fact’s delegated authority ends. Also, there is a term known as “Durable Power of Attorney”. This refers to the power continuing after the Principal becomes mentally incapacitated from a condition such as Alzheimer’s or dementia.
The Personal Representative takes their power following an individual’s death (then the deceased person is referred to as ‘decedent’). Another important part, this designated Personal Representative (through a Will document) does not have any authority to act until a Court issues what is known as ‘letters testamentary’.
There can be a difficult gap between the end of an Attorney-in-Fact’s authority to act (upon principal’s death) and issuance of the letters testamentary. I often recommend to clients that they open a convenience joint account with a child. This is placing an additional person on your checking account with the authority to write checks. This allows seamless continuation of check-writing ability to pay bills.
All of the above information is better explained in detail with an attorney over a meeting, as there are many things to consider.
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