Give someone you trust authority over your finances if you're ever incapacitated

It's not uncommon to need some help managing day-to-day financial matters at some point in your life. For example, say you're in the hospital for a while and need help getting your bills paid. Unless you've given someone authority with a durable power of attorney for finances, a court would have to choose someone (possibly not the person you would prefer) to write checks and take other actions on your behalf.

By signing a durable power of attorney for finances, you can:

• give someone you trust authority over your finances
• avoid court involvement
• make things easier for your family during a difficult time
  

You'll have peace of mind, knowing that if it's ever necessary, the person you've chosen can step in and handle matters for you until you're back on your feet.

Operating system: Windows- and Macintosh-compatible. The computer you use to purchase an eForm must be the same computer you will download it to. (For example, don't purchase the eForm using your computer at work if you intend to download it later on to your home computer; instead, wait until you're on the computer you intend to download the eForm to and then make your purchase. After you've downloaded the file, you will be able to "transfer" it to another computer by copying it to external media or by email.) In addition, you will not be able to download this file if:

• cookies are disabled on your computer, or
• a firewall prevents you from downloading files from the Internet.

Software: Before you can use an eForm, additional software must be installed:
To expand the ZIP archive you download after making your purchase, you'll need:

• A decompression utility such as the following, both of which can be downloaded for free:

• 7-Zip (http://www.7-zip.org) (for Windows users).
• StuffIt Expander (http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/stuffit/expander.html) (for Macintosh). Please note: Many recently manufactured Macs have a native capability to decompress zip files. See your computer's user manual for verification of this and instructions for access.

To open, fill out and print an eForm, you need a word processor that "reads" RTF (rich text format) files:

• Windows XP & Vista both come with WordPad, an RTF-compatible word processor.
• Macintosh OS X comes with TextEdit, an RTF-compatible word processor; non-OS X users need Word 5.0 or greater, WordPerfect 2.1 or greater, or another RTF-compatible word processor.