Connecticut Statutory General Power of Attorney with Durable Provisions

Power of Attorney - General - Connecticut

Connecticut has adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act.

Section 1. Sections 1 to 45, inclusive, of this act may be cited as the Connecticut Uniform Power of Attorney Act.

Sec. 2. As used in sections 1 to 45, inclusive, of this act:

(1) Agent means a person granted authority to act for a principal under a power of attorney, whether denominated an agent, attorney in fact, or otherwise. Agent includes an original agent, coagent, successor agent and a person to which an agent's authority is delegated.
(2) Durable means, with respect to a power of attorney, not terminated by the principal's incapacity.
(3) Electronic means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic or similar capabilities.
(4) Good faith means honesty in fact.
(5) Incapacity means inability of an individual, even with appropriate assistance, to perform the functions inherent in managing his or her affairs because the individual:
(A) Has a mental, emotional or physical condition that results in the individual being unable to receive and evaluate information or make or communicate decisions or
(B) Is:
(i) Missing
(ii) Detained, including incarcerated in a penal system or
(iii) Outside the United States and unable to return.
(6) Person means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality or any other legal or commercial entity.
(7) Power of attorney means a writing or other record that grants authority to an agent to act in the place of the principal, whether or not the term power of attorney is used.
(8) Presently exercisable general power of appointment means, with respect to property or a property interest subject to a power of appointment, power exercisable at the time in question to vest absolute ownership in the principal individually, the principal's estate, the principal's creditors or the creditors of the principal's estate. The term includes a power of appointment not exercisable until the occurrence of a specified event, the satisfaction of an ascertainable standard, or the passage of a specified period only after the occurrence of the specified event, the satisfaction of the ascertainable standard, or the passage of the specified period. The term does not include a power exercisable in a fiduciary capacity or only by will.
(9) Principal means an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney.
(10) Property means anything that may be the subject of ownership, whether real or personal, or legal or equitable, or any interest or right therein.
(11) Record means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
(12) Sign means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record to:
(A) Execute or adopt a tangible symbol or
(B) Attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic sound, symbol or process.
(13) State means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
(14) Stocks and bonds means stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and all other types of securities and financial instruments, whether held directly, indirectly or in any other manner. Stocks and bonds does not include commodity futures contracts and call or put options on stocks or stock indexes.

Sec. 3. The provisions of sections 1 to 45, inclusive, of this act apply to all powers of attorney except:

(1) A power to the extent it is coupled with an interest in the subject of the power, including a power given to or for the benefit of a creditor in connection with a credit transaction
(2) A power to make health care decisions
(3) A proxy or other delegation to exercise voting rights or management rights with respect to an entity and
(4) A power created on a form prescribed by a government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality for a governmental purpose.

Sec. 4. A power of attorney created under sections 1 to 45, inclusive, of this act is durable unless it expressly provides that it is terminated by the incapacity of the principal.

Sec. 5. A power of attorney must be dated and signed by the principal or in the principal's conscious presence by another individual directed by the principal to sign the principal's name on the power of attorney and witnessed by two witnesses. A signature on a power of attorney is presumed to be genuine if the principal acknowledges the signature before a notary public, a commissioner of the Superior Court or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments.

Sec. 6. (a) A power of attorney executed in this state on or after October 1, 2015, is valid if its execution complies with section 5 of this act.

(b) A power of attorney executed in this state before October 1, 2015, is valid if its execution complied with the law of this state as it existed at the time of execution.
(c) A power of attorney executed other than in this state is valid in this state if, when the power of attorney was executed, the execution complied with:
(1) The law of the jurisdiction that determines the meaning and effect of the power of attorney pursuant to section 7 of this act or
(2) The requirements for a military power of attorney pursuant to 10 USC 1044b, as amended from time to time.
(d) Except as otherwise provided by statute, other than sections 1 to 45, inclusive, of this act, or unless the power of attorney otherwise provides, a photocopy or electronically transmitted copy of an original power of attorney has the same effect as the original.

Sec. 7. The meaning and effect of a power of attorney is determined by the law of the jurisdiction indicated in the power of attorney and, in the absence of an indication of jurisdiction, by the law of the jurisdiction in which the power of attorney was executed.

Sec. 8. (a) In a power of attorney, a principal may nominate a conservator of the principal's estate or conservator of the principal's person for consideration by the court if protective proceedings for the principal's estate or person are begun after the principal executes the power of attorney. The court shall make its appointment in accordance with the principal's most recent nomination unless the court finds that the appointee, designee or nominee is unwilling or unable to serve or there is substantial evidence to disqualify such person.

(b) If, after a principal executes a power of attorney, a court appoints a conservator of the principal's estate or other fiduciary charged with the management of some or all of the principal's property, the court may continue, limit, suspend or terminate the power of attorney. If the power of attorney continues, the agent is accountable to the fiduciary as well as to the principal. If the power of attorney is suspended pursuant to this subsection, then the power of attorney shall be reinstated upon termination of the conservatorship as a result of the principal regaining capacity. The court shall have the authority to continue certain provisions of the power of attorney, but not others.

Sec. 9. (a) A power of attorney is effective when executed unless the principal provides in the power of attorney that it becomes effective at a future date or upon the occurrence of a future event or contingency.

(b) If a power of attorney becomes effective upon the occurrence of a future event or contingency, the principal, in the power of attorney, may authorize one or more persons to determine in a writing or other record that the event or contingency has occurred.
(c) If a power of attorney becomes effective upon the principal's incapacity and the principal has not authorized a person to determine whether the principal is incapacitated, or the person authorized is unable or unwilling to make the determination, the power of attorney becomes effective upon a determination in a writing or other record by:
(1) Two independent physicians that the principal is incapacitated within the meaning set forth in subparagraph (A) of subdivision (5) of section 2 of this act or
(2) A judge that the principal is incapacitated within the meaning set forth in subparagraph (B) of subdivision (5) of section 2 of this act.
(d) A person authorized by the principal in the power of attorney to determine that the principal is incapacitated may act as the principal's personal representative pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Sections 1171 to 1179, inclusive, of the Social Security Act, 42 USC 1320d, as amended from time to time, and applicable federal regulations, to obtain access to the principal's health care information and communicate with the principal's health care provider.