When the documents name an agent, and the moment has arrived.
A power of attorney names someone to handle finances when the principal cannot. An advance health care directive names someone to make medical decisions. A trust names a successor trustee to take over from the original. All three are roles a family member often agrees to take — and often, when the moment arrives, cannot. We serve as the named or successor agent in each of these roles.
When you'd come to us for this.
- You drafted a power of attorney years ago naming a sibling who has since moved, become unwell, or simply admitted they cannot take it on. The trust needs a clean successor agent, named in advance, so the document actually works when the moment comes.
- The principal under a financial POA has lost capacity and the named family agent is overwhelmed. The bank is rejecting the document. Bills are being missed. We can step in as successor agent, or as co-agent, to do the operational work.
- A parent's advance health care directive named an adult child who lives across the country, and the family wants a local professional to be the immediate decision-maker — with the out-of-state child consulted but not the one on the phone with the hospital at 2 a.m.
- The named successor trustee on a trust has died, declined, or cannot continue. The trust needs a trustee. Without one, the trust is paralyzed: no one can sign for the trust, sell the house, file the tax return, or distribute the assets.
- You are planning ahead for your own future — naming a professional as alternate or successor in your existing documents so that the people you love are not the people running the trust the day you cannot.
What happens next.
1. The document. Each of these roles is created by a specific written instrument: a durable power of attorney for finance, an advance health care directive, or a trust. We read the document carefully before we accept the role. The document defines our authority — broader or narrower as drafted — and our obligations.
2. Activation. Some POAs are effective immediately on signing (an "immediate" POA); some activate only on a determination of incapacity (a "springing" POA). Successor trustees become trustee upon the death or incapacity of the prior trustee, with a written acceptance of trust filed where appropriate. Health care agents become active when the principal cannot make their own medical decisions. We confirm activation has occurred before we begin acting.
3. The ongoing role — finance agent. Records management. Account access. Bill payment. Real-property handling. Income-tax filings for the principal. The slow discipline of getting the bank to accept the document under Probate Code §4406 (banks must accept a properly executed California statutory power of attorney; refusal is grounds for the bank's liability). For most principals, this is the bulk of the work — the steady, accurate, monthly rhythm of someone else's finances.
4. The ongoing role — health care agent. Knowing the principal's wishes from their AHCD and from prior conversations. Being reachable. Making medical decisions in coordination with the treating physicians — not in opposition to them. Knowing when to consent to treatment, when to consent to hospice, when to honor a POLST. The role ends at the principal's death; we do not handle anything beyond that under the AHCD authority.
5. The ongoing role — successor trustee. If activation is at the prior trustee's death, this becomes a trust-administration engagement (see Trust Administration). If activation is at the prior trustee's incapacity and the principal is still living, it is an ongoing trustee role for the life of the principal: distributions for their benefit, accountings to remainder beneficiaries, coordination with the principal's other professionals.
6. End of role. A POA terminates at the principal's death under Probate Code §4152. An AHCD agency terminates at death. A trusteeship may terminate at death (if the trust then distributes), or may continue (if the trust provides for an ongoing sub-trust). We close cleanly in every case — final accounting, written notice to the next person in line, written confirmation that we are no longer acting.
What this costs.
Agency roles are billed hourly. The cost depends on activity. A professional financial POA agent for a stable principal with a quiet portfolio bills a few hours a month. The same agent, navigating an acute medical crisis with multiple banks, billing systems, and care decisions in motion, bills dozens of hours that month. Healthcare agency is usually quieter on average and intense in clusters.
Successor trusteeship while the principal is living follows the same hourly model. Successor trusteeship after the principal has died moves into the trust-administration framework — typically twelve to eighteen months of work, billed hourly, sized to trust complexity (see Trust Administration for the cost framing).
All hourly rates and billing categories are disclosed in writing in the engagement letter, consistent with AB 1194 §6563.
Common questions.
Why would I name a professional instead of a family member?
Most families do name a family member, and that is often the right answer. A professional becomes the right answer when no family member is willing or available, when the family is in conflict and a neutral is needed, when the principal lives alone with no nearby family, or when the principal does not want the person they love to be the person making clinical decisions about them in a crisis. The conversation is worth having before the documents are signed, not after.
Can the family member stay involved if a professional is the agent?
Yes. The agent has the legal authority to decide, but a good agent consults — family, treating physicians, the principal's attorney, the principal's CPA. We are not a wall around the principal; we are a professional running point. Many engagements involve a weekly or monthly check-in call with an adult child who wants to know what is happening but does not want to be the one making the calls.
What happens if the bank refuses to honor the POA?
Probate Code §4406 requires California banks to accept a properly executed statutory power of attorney. When a bank refuses, the first move is to send the bank a written demand citing the statute. When that does not work, the principal's attorney can petition the probate court for an order compelling the bank to honor the document. We handle the demand letter and the coordination with the attorney. A refusing bank's liability under §4406 generally resolves the matter without litigation.
New to the successor-trustee role, or weighing whether to take it on? Our guide to a successor trustee’s duties in California and the 60-day notice walks through what the job involves before you decide.
Deciding whether to plan ahead with a power of attorney, or facing a situation where capacity is already gone? Our guide to power of attorney versus conservatorship in California explains the difference between authority you grant in advance and authority a court imposes.
If you are simply trying to understand the document itself, our guide to what a power of attorney is in California covers financial versus health-care authority and what an agent can and cannot do; and if you are worried an agent is overstepping, who can override a power of attorney explains who actually has the standing to step in.
Consultations are by appointment and held in strict confidence.
Or call 760-33-TRUST (760-338-7878) directly.
Discretion and confidentiality are fundamental to our practice. Information submitted through this form is kept private and used solely for purposes of communication regarding potential fiduciary services.
