A power of attorney is permission to sign and decide on somebody else's behalf. Grant a power of attorney.
It has to be made while somebody still has the capacity to make it, which is why it is left too late. A lasting power of attorney covers health as well as money in England.
1nounpower of attorneyPermission to sign and decide on somebody else's behalf.
“The power of attorney was signed a fortnight before it was needed.”
power of attorney is a permission.
Attorney once meant any personal representative rather than a lawyer, and the older sense survives here.
Built from
From attorney (“any personal representative”). Attorney now rarely has that sense outside of fixed expressions like this one.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Crime & Law