watch out: Power of Attorney's law

On April 8, 2010, the New York State Assembly passed a bill which, if approved by the Senate and signed into law, would clarify changes made to New York's power of attorney laws in September 2009. While this firm does not practice law in New York, it is worth to take a close look as either similar laws may be enacted in the future in North Carolina or Georgia.

In September 2009, Title 15 of Article 5 New York's General Obligations Law was changed. Additional words were added to address a concern that individuals executing a power of attorney may not understand the full consequences of giving the power. There was a discussion about potential abuse and how this abuse could be limited. Under the new law a few aspects had to be met to be a valid power of attorney, including:

• Inclusion of legends relating to the potential scope of authority that may be granted to the agent and fiduciary duties of the agent owed to the principal.
• Manual signatures of the principal and agent.
• Notarization of the manual signatures.

Corporations doing business were after the new law not certain, if these new rules will apply to them as well. Therefore this amendment has caused concern among many practitioners.

The new bill, if passed by the Senate, would add a new section, 5-1501(C), which lists the types of transactions that the September 2009 Amendments would not apply to. This will clarify some of these concerns.

See here what is to be changed: bdhlaw.net

Or contact me directly
Reinhard von Hennigs
law @ bdhlaw . net
Tel +1 (704) 333 5230