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What is the difference or are they the same?

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This may vary by state. As advised by one of the attorneys for whom I used to work, about 20 years ago the Michigan EPIC statute was enacted and changed the designation of a person(s) handling someone's Will from Executor or Executrix to"Personal Representative".

I haven't done any legal research to determine if there's been an amendment or change and am assuming that this is still the designated description.

So, in Michigan, Personal Representative is the individual designated in a Will to manage someone's estate, with the authority granted by Michigan in the EPIC statute or previously existing statutes which were't affected by EPIC.

A legal representative can have varied duties, across a spectrum of legal issues beyond estate issues. It could also business aplications, such as when a proxy is selected to represent shareholders at annual meetings.

A legal representative could also be someone with limited authority pursuant to a Limited Durable Power of Attorney, such as when property owners grant someone the authority to execute real estate documents on their behalf b/c they won't be physically available, such as being out of town, on vacation, etc.
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Dee, authorizing a farm manager with a LPOA is an excellent example of another kind of business application.

I'm a bit concerned about a SW Asst. who would meddle in a power of attorney issue, but am glad you got it straightened out. And to "assist your mother in changing the proxy to the family attorney is in my opinion way beyond the scope of her duties. She overstepped her bounds. And clearly, she has no concept of the financial implications.

While individual family proxies might be compensated, depending on a lot of factors, and attorney WILL charge, and depending on the jurisdiction and experience of the attorney, it could be up to $400 - $500 an hour. That's a significant obligation to burden someone's estate.

An attorney in a sizeable firm would likely assign most of the work to a paralegal, bringing the hourly cost down, but depending on the firm, the attorney may still oversee all of the paralegal's work.

In my experience, there's only been one or two SWs who were even knowledgeable about the different kinds of POAs. Some were just kids, plodding through and clearly lacking in interest about their patients.
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The personal representative cannot deal directly with financial matters, with medical matters, or any legal business.

For example...Social Security will not discuss matters with anyone except the person the social security number belongs to...or the legally designated representative,

I cannot think what good it is to have a personal representative that has not legal power. I don't think such a person would have much if any authority at all
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I did an internet Yahoo Search of "difference between the Personal Representative and Power of Attorney" and found several sources.
I believe that the difference between the Personal Representative and Power of Attorney may vary from state to state. However, from what I have read, the Personal Representative is usually someone who administers the estate after the person has passed away and the Power of Attorney
is someone who is appointed by a person while they are alive to take care of that person’s financial needs, health and welfare needs and other day-to-day to issues (i.e. paying bills) when that person becomes incapacitated (or incompetent) for reasons stated in the POA document.

My Mother's Durable POA document did not require that she be declared incompetent for me to act as POA. Her document stated that if she became or was incapacitated due to hospitalization or residing in a nursing home, that I could attend to her financial needs, health and welfare needs and other day-to-day to issues. When the Nursing Home's Social Service Assistant "riled Mom up" (got Mom upset about paying her NH bills) and then helped Mom change her POA to our Family Attorney; the clause about Mom being incapacitated as a reason for invoking her POA really supported me so that Mom's Attorney Ad Lidem gave Mom's POA back to me.

An example of a Limited Power of Attorney: You own a business or a farm in one state and you lived in another state so you give the "Business Manager" or "Farm Manger" limited power to sign required papers or to write/deposit checks associated with the business or farm.

The wording of a Durable POA or "Springing" POA document or POA document is extremely important as it tells everyone WHEN a person's POA can be invoke by the POWER of that POA.
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