You can appoint anyone to be your POA, however, being in another state makes it more difficult to manage your care and see what is happening with your care in person.
An Elder Law attorney would be your best bet to draw up a Power of Attorney, and to be sure that your POA could legally cross State lines [most States allow POA's from other States].
If there is absolutely nobody close by, then go for the out of state person.....but in my parent's scenario it was really difficult to manage. The poa was completely out of.touch with what folks wanted, and only visited every 3-5 yrs. Talking by phone a couple times a yr. Send card at Xmas. When they did visit, expected royal treatment, and to have their expenses paid. All during this time (oh for about 30 years or more) I was very close by, very involved, and finally they changed their documents, which will save them a lot of money. Be forwarned--if you give poa to someone out of state, at some point you will be paying their travel costs, so if that is OK with you then go ahead. Also if they are your Executor, ditto, it gets expensive fast. An alternative is to look up your local Lutheran Social Services (or other church or civic organization) because many of them offers poa for hire (yes you will need to pay them but they are close by so won't cost as much as someone out of state).
It most definately depends on the laws governing the State of Alabama. An Elder Attorney can easily advise you with regards to these important questions that you are experiencing at this time in your life. The attorney will write up a POA for you and also put in place someone to make your medical decisions for you as well. Be very specific as to what your wishes are, both now and in the future. The clearer you present your wishes, the easier for everyone involved later on when your health deteriorates. Best wishes.
It is possible, contact the local area agency on aging, they will be able to refer you to someone that can provide answers. You want to make sure everything you want is covered and is transferable to the other state. An elder law attorney should be able to answer your questions.
You can always specify in the POA which expenses you will pay towards the administration of your financial and other affairs; some states will only say reasonable limits to how much a POA can charge for their time. Just be clear in the document about the POA being able to compensate themselves out of your funds! Also include language about reimbursing travel costs, since they are out of state. Be sure the person you want, will agree to your terms. Consider adding a successor POA in the event your 1st choice is unable or unwilling to serve.
And keep in mind, there is no "Dept of POA Oversight"....nobody checks to make sure all these POA are being honest. To be sure most POA are doing right thing, but the few that are dishonest are hard to catch--unless somebody else gets suspicious, but even then, that person would have to spend time & money to get the unscrupulous POA removed. So be very sure you trust your POA 1, 000 percent.
Oh yes Samara what you said is so very true. This happened to my friends Mom. But little did the POA know that her son had access to his Moms bank account and kept a watchful eye as the son always added money to his Moms account and would show his Mom how much money she had. He would do this to give his Mom a sense of security. The son took care of his Mom for over ten years and he payed out of pocket for all of her expenses, his Mom was in charge of the phone bill and he let her pay that one bill every month so Mom felt as though she was making a contribution as well. As his Mom was approaching 93 and health had deteriorated over some time, the son could no longer work full time, and give enough care to his Mom and so the grandson and wife took in grandma. Within two days, the grandson and wife drained all but $5.00 out of her account! You can only imagine the shock that the son felt when he went to add more money to Moms account. He left the bank, went directly to the grandsons house, packed his Moms things loaded everything in the car and took his mom back to his house where she lived out the rest of her life with him. Whom I might add, made the grandson and wife pay back every cent to his Moms account plus interest!
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