A Power of Attorney is a written authorization empowering a specific named individual to sign your name and act in your absence in a variety of areas. You can execute a document and specifically list the power you are conveying to handle transactions in real property, personal property, banking, safe deposits, business operations, insurance, estates, taxes, personal relationships, and on. It should be limited to terminate on a specific date or revoked at a later date in a separate document.

A "durable" Power of Attorney is executed to empower another to manage your affairs if you become incapacitated or incompetent. It must be recorded with the Office of the Register of Deeds to be valid.

Carolina Student Legal Services, Inc. has forms available, duplicated from the exact statutory form, for the execution of a Power of Attorney.