Financial Advance Directives

A financial or general power of attorney gives the agent (or co-agents or successor agents) comprehensive authority over an individual’s legal and financial affairs, or specific grants of authority within those areas. This is primarily intended for individuals who are not capable of managing all or part of their affairs any longer. Like a medical power of attorney, the individual must give informed consent for a POA to be valid. All general powers of attorney executed after January 1, 2010 in Colorado must conform to the Uniform Power of Attorney Act. This specifies that a form must be substantially of the same text as written in statute, though with the ability to modify the form as appropriate for specific grants of authority and durations.

A representative payee is appointed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to manage an incapable person's affairs before SSA. The SSA does not recognize financial powers of attorney (FPOA). To conduct business with SSA on another individual's behalf, SSA must select that individual or organization as representative payee. Payees can manage an individual's applications and ongoing benefits and payments, including Social Security (Retirement, Survivor, or Disability Insurance) benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments, Medicare Part A and Part B enrollments, and Extra Help for Medicare Prescription Drug (Low Income Subsidy, LIS) enrollment. Payees usually must have a face-to-face interview with SSA and be selected as the most appropriate person to serve as payee.

In Colorado a conservator is placed in charge of a person’s financial matters, as opposed to a guardian who is placed in charge of the care and custody of a person and is responsible for making health care and placement decisions. Conservatorship does not require that the person be found incapacitated or incompetent. A conservatorship may be opened for an adult who is unable to manage their affairs. This may be for many reasons, including conflicts of interest, an inability to effectively receive or evaluate information, or an inability to make or communicate decisions. The court may appoint an individual, a trust company, or a bank as conservator of the protected person.

In Colorado a guardian is a person lawfully vested by the courts with the power and charged with the duty of taking care of an individual. This is opposed to a conservator who is placed in charge of managing finances and legal affairs of more than day-to-day amounts. A guardianship requires a legal finding of incapacity or incompetency. A guardian makes decisions about the individuals’s medical treatment and living arrangements and determines what sort of assistance and supervision the person will receive. A guardian can only administer small amounts of money, typically under $24,000 per year.