There are a number of ways to define powers of attorney. One is to have an immediate power of attorney. As the name suggests, the authority that is granted by the immediate power of attorney is available immediately. And that means that the agent under a power of attorney can take actions as soon as the principal signs the power of attorney.

Another type of power of attorney is what’s called a springing power of attorney. Under the springing power of attorney, the authority that the principal grants to the agent springs into an existence upon a specific event. And the typical event that causes the power of attorney to spring into existence is that the principal becomes incapacitated. And so what that means is that the principal creates a power of attorney, and it is not effective until the principal becomes incapacitated, and then the authority that is granted to the agent springs into existence.

There are other ways to define a power of attorney. There is what’s called a limited power of attorney, and a limited power of attorney is where the principal grants authority to an agent for a limited purpose or a limited time. For example, a principal can say, I grant my agent the authority to sell my house. That is a limited power of attorney. The authority that is granted is only the ability to sell the house. The agent does not have the ability to transact business, for the principal, does not have the ability to deal with bank accounts for the principal, and so on.

Another type of limited power of attorney is limited as to time. And so, for example, a principal can grant an agent a power of attorney that says, I the principal grant my agent authority to conduct business for me, but only for the next 30 days. That is a limited power of attorney as well.

Another type of power of attorney is a general power of attorney. The general power of attorney can be quite broad, and this is where the principal grants the agent broad authority to transact business on the principal’s behalf. Typically, the general power of attorney is also not time bound. And so, for example, in be for a unlimited period of time whenever the power of attorney becomes effective.

And so those are the ways that a power of attorney can be defined, or those are the different types of powers of attorney. If you have more questions about powers of attorney, please feel free to reach out and contact us.

The answer is, it depends. The authority that’s granted to the agent in a power of attorney is based upon the language that is actually contained within the power of attorney.

So if the power of attorney says that the agent has the authority to buy and sell real estate, and perhaps even specifies the specific real estate location by address or by APN assessor’s parcel number, then the power of attorney can be used to allow the agent to sell real estate.

And the answer is yes, you can transfer a one-half interest in a house into a trust. People often own real estate with other individuals and usually that is a tenancy in common type of ownership.

And what that means is that each of the co-owners owns an undivided one half interest in the real estate. So it’s possible for one of those owners to transfer his or her undivided one half interest in the real estate to a trust that they create.