Article Summary
Most people don’t think about a power of attorney until a parent has a stroke, a spouse is scheduled for surgery, or an aging relative starts missing bill payments. By then, the person who needs the document may no longer have the legal capacity to sign one, and the family is left applying to a court for guardianship instead of handling the situation privately. A power of attorney lawyer’s job is to get ahead of that timeline: to help you name someone you trust to act on your behalf financially or medically before a crisis forces the issue.
This guide covers what a Colorado power of attorney actually authorizes, when the document should be signed rather than simply downloaded from a template site, what happens if you wait too long, and how to structure the document so the person you name can’t misuse it. Colorado law presumes a power of attorney survives your incapacity unless you say otherwise, which makes the decisions you make at signing more permanent than most people realize.
None of this is a substitute for reviewing your specific family situation with an attorney, but understanding how the document works before you sign puts you in a much stronger position to use it correctly. A power of attorney is one of the few legal tools that only works if it’s already in place when you need it.
What Does a Power of Attorney Actually Let Someone Do in Colorado?
A power of attorney is a signed legal document that lets you, the principal, give another person, called your agent, the authority to make financial or health care decisions on your behalf. Under Colorado’s Uniform Power of Attorney Act, a power of attorney created on or after January 1, 2010, is presumed durable, meaning it stays in effect even if you later become incapacitated, unless the document specifically says it terminates.
That presumption is a significant shift from what many people assume. According to C.R.S. § 15-14-704, Colorado law states that a power of attorney “is durable unless it expressly provides that it is terminated by the incapacity of the principal.” In plain terms, silence in the document means it survives your decline in health, so what you write, or don’t write, into the document controls exactly when your agent’s authority starts and how long it lasts.
We’ve had clients assume a power of attorney only kicks in once a doctor declares them incapacitated. That’s true only if the document is written that way, as a “springing” power of attorney. Written the more common way, the agent’s authority begins the moment you sign, which means the choice of agent and the scope of what they can do matters from day one, not just in a future emergency. As a power of attorney lawyer, we walk clients through which structure actually fits their situation before they sign anything.
When Should You Hire a Lawyer to Set Up a Power of Attorney?
You should hire a lawyer to prepare a power of attorney whenever the document needs to hold up under scrutiny, whether that’s from a bank, a hospital, a family member who disagrees with your choices, or a court. A power of attorney is only as strong as its execution, and Colorado law is specific about how that execution has to happen.
Under C.R.S. § 15-14-705, a power of attorney “must be signed by the principal or in the principal’s conscious presence by another individual directed by the principal to sign,” and the statute sets out when notarization creates a presumption that the signature is genuine. A template downloaded online can technically meet the bare signature requirement and still fail you in practice, because it wasn’t drafted around your specific assets, your specific family dynamics, or the specific institutions that will eventually be asked to honor it.
We regularly see this exact scenario play out: a generic power of attorney form gets rejected by an out-of-state bank or brokerage, right when a family needs it most to keep bills paid and accounts accessible. A lawyer’s role isn’t just filling in blanks. It’s anticipating where a document will be used, whether that’s a Colorado bank, an out-of-state retirement account, or a business interest, and drafting language broad enough to be honored in each place. If you own real estate in more than one state, run a business, or have a blended family, that anticipation is exactly where a template stops being sufficient. Our estate planning team builds these documents to hold up under exactly that kind of scrutiny.
What Happens If You Wait Too Long to Create a Power of Attorney?
If you become incapacitated before signing a power of attorney, your family cannot simply step in and manage your finances or medical care. They have to petition a Colorado court for guardianship or conservatorship, a public, supervised process that takes time and money precisely when your family has neither to spare.
That gap, the period after incapacity but before a court appoints someone, is also when financial exploitation is most likely to occur. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found more than 180,000 suspicious activity reports involving elder financial exploitation between 2013 and 2017, totaling over $6 billion in suspicious activity. A validly executed power of attorney doesn’t eliminate that risk, but it does mean someone you specifically chose, rather than whoever gets to the bank or the bedside first, has clear legal authority to act and can be held accountable for how they use it.
We’ve seen families delay this conversation because it feels premature, something to handle “eventually.” Then a parent has a fall or a diagnosis changes quickly, and the family is choosing between an emergency guardianship filing and having no one able to access accounts to pay for care. Setting up a power of attorney while you’re healthy costs a fraction of what a contested guardianship proceeding costs later, both in money and in family strain. If you’re the child of aging parents, this is worth raising directly with them well before it becomes urgent, and our family law and estate planning attorneys can help start that conversation.
How Do You Protect Against Power of Attorney Abuse in Colorado?
You protect against power of attorney abuse by choosing your agent carefully, building in oversight before you sign, and understanding that the document can be limited, monitored, or revoked while you still have capacity. A power of attorney hands real authority to another person, and that authority can be misused just as easily by a family member as by a stranger.
Financial exploitation by someone the victim trusted is more common, and more costly, than most people expect. One widely cited study on hybrid financial exploitation, published in the journal Psychology of Violence and summarized on Wikipedia’s overview of elder abuse research, found that victims lost an average of $185,574, with individual cases ranging from $20 to $750,000. Family members, particularly adult children, made up the majority of perpetrators identified in that research.
A lawyer can build real safeguards into the document itself: naming co-agents who must act together for major decisions, requiring your agent to provide an accounting to a third party, limiting the scope of authority to specific transactions rather than granting blanket control, or choosing a springing structure that only activates on a documented medical determination. We often work with clients who want to name a single adult child as agent but are uneasy about giving that person unchecked access to their accounts. In those cases, we can draft the document to require periodic written accountings to a trusted third party, such as a family accountant, giving the client the protection of oversight without excluding the person they trust most. If you’re unsure how to structure a document that reflects your specific comfort level, that’s exactly the conversation to have before you sign, not after. Our office can help you talk through the options that fit your family.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What’s the difference between a power of attorney and a living will in Colorado? A: A power of attorney names a person to make financial or health care decisions on your behalf, while a living will is a written statement of your own wishes about end-of-life medical treatment. Many people benefit from having both documents, since a living will guides your agent’s decisions rather than replacing the need for one.
Q: Does a power of attorney give someone control over my will? A: No. A power of attorney only grants authority while you’re alive. It automatically ends at your death, at which point your will and any trusts control how your assets are distributed.
Q: Can I revoke a power of attorney after I’ve signed it? A: Yes, as long as you still have the mental capacity to do so. You can revoke a power of attorney in writing at any time, and it’s a good practice to notify your agent and any institutions relying on the document once you do.
Q: Does a Colorado power of attorney work if I own property in another state? A: It depends on the institution and the state. Some out-of-state banks and title companies will honor a properly executed Colorado power of attorney, while others require additional steps. This is one of the specific issues a lawyer will flag and address before you need to rely on the document.
Q: Do I need a lawyer to create a power of attorney, or can I use an online template? A: You can technically sign a template, but templates aren’t built around your specific assets, family situation, or the institutions that will eventually need to honor the document. A lawyer drafts the power of attorney to hold up in the exact circumstances where you’ll need it to work.
Ready to Put a Power of Attorney in Place Before You Need One?
A power of attorney only works if it’s signed, properly executed, and structured around your actual life before a crisis makes that impossible. Waiting until it feels urgent is the one mistake you can’t undo.
At Lewis & Matthews, P.C., we help Colorado clients set up powers of attorney that protect both their independence and their family’s ability to act when it matters. If you’re ready to put this in place, call (303) 329-3802 or contact us online to speak with a power of attorney lawyer.
