Elder, Estate Planning, & Special Needs Law News 

New Year, New Law

Important Update

Recent Law Changes May Impact the Functionality of Durable Powers of Attorney for Property in Illinois

A law change, which went into effect on January 1, 2025, may have the unintended consequence of increasing the likelihood that banks and financial institutions may reasonably refuse to honor Durable Powers of Attorney for Property (DPOAP), at a time when the DPOAP is most needed, unless additional documentation is provided. Specifically, the following supplemental materials may, now, be required by some financial institutions:

• Certificate of Validity from an Attorney – Confirms the validity of the DPOAP.
• Affidavit of Execution – Verifies the DPOAP was properly signed and witnessed.
• Agent’s Certification of Acceptance – Confirms important items regarding the DPOAP, including that the agent has accepted their role under the DPOAP.

A DPOAP created prior to the new law will not have either the Certificate of Validity from an Attorney or the Affidavit of Execution. A statutory form for the Agent’s Certificate of Acceptance, however, did exist prior to this recent law change.

The original intention of this law change was to improve the functionality of DPOAs for Property, when agents are dealing with financial institutions (such as banks and the like) and to, also, reduce fraud. Instead of improving the functionality when needed, the new law may end up leading to significant and unintended consequences. The new law appears to have resulted in creating potential new hurdles that agents may, now, need to clear. The newly created hurdles may impede the functionality of your DPOAP and/or may disrupt the way in which you intended it to be used, if you are no longer able to handle your own financial matters.

In other words, the usefulness and functionality of DPOAs for Property, when they are most needed, is now a concern. To increase the likelihood that your DPOAP remains valid, enforceable, and functions in the way that you intended following the recent changes to the law, we recommend reviewing your current DPOAP with your attorney and taking action to complete any recommended updates to your DPOAP.

Our office is here to help, should you need assistance. If you would like to discuss these changes and/or proactively update your DPOAP to ensure that it includes the two additional, new documents that may now be required by your financial institution(s), please contact our office to schedule an appointment with one of our attorneys.

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                       Scheduling a presentation for your group:

Is your group in need of a speaker?  If so, please do not hesitate to contact our office to discuss topic options and to determine whether one of our presentation topics aligns with the needs of your group.

Legal Services:

Should you or someone you know wish to meet with one of our attorneys for assistance with (or to discuss options for): estate, life care, and/or long-term care planning; special needs planning; and/or, other planning matters, please do not hesitate to contact our office to schedule an appointment with one of our attorneys.  It would be our pleasure to meet with you to review your current planning and/or to discuss planning options for your consideration.

Additional Legal Services:

Selling and/or buying a new home; commercial property; and/or other real estate?

Starting a new business; or, need your corporate records updated?   

Recently injured, and uncertain of your rights? 

If any of the above apply to you, or someone you know, then please visit the website of our parent law firm, Mickey, Wilson, Weiler, Renzi, Lenert, & Julien, P.C., to learn more about the additional legal services we offer.

Reminder:  Out of an abundance of caution and to do our continued part in helping to keep our clients, staff, and their respective families as safe as possible, all non-signing appointments for our elder law clients and for our estate and life care planning clients with the following attorneys: Connie Renzi or Katie Lenert, remain "virtual" (via video or telephone conferencing). 

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Help for those who may be struggling with mental health issues:  If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues and needs assistance, help is available by calling or texting the recently launched three-digit dialing code – “988”. The new 988 dialing code to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, for mental health crises, is available throughout the United States.  Additionally, veterans can now dial 988 and press 1 to reach the Veteran Crisis Line.