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Tennessee Healthcare Power of Attorney

A Tennessee Healthcare Power of Attorney is a legal document that gives a person or entity the authority to make health-related decisions on your behalf, such as refusing or requesting medical treatment, if you cannot do so.

The person giving permission is known as the "principal," and the person or organization obtaining powers is known as the "agent." Suited for Tennessee residents, our Power of Attorney for health care is made for use in Davidson County, Knox County, Hamilton County, and in every other county or municipality throughout the state. All Tennessee Healthcare PoA forms from Rocket Lawyer can be edited to address your particular situation. As a result of this document, your agent(s) can provide verification to medical providers and other parties that they can act in your interest.

It is very simple to give or get the authority you might need using a free Tennessee Healthcare Power of Attorney template from Rocket Lawyer:

1. Make your document - Provide a few basic details and we will do the rest
2. Send and share - Review the document with your agent or seek legal help
3. Sign and make it legal - Mandatory or not, witnesses/notarization are encouraged

This method is often going to be much less expensive and less time-consuming than meeting and hiring the average law firm. If needed, you may start a Medical PoA on behalf of your spouse, an elderly parent, or another relative, and then have that person sign it after you've drafted it. Keep in mind that for a Power of Attorney to be considered valid, the principal must be an adult who is mentally competent at the time of signing. In the event that the principal has already been declared incompetent, a conservatorship might be required. When facing this scenario, it would be important to speak to a lawyer.

Every adult should have a Healthcare Power of Attorney. While it is difficult to think about, there could come a time when you can no longer make important decisions on your own. Here are a few common circumstances in which you may consider power of attorney to be useful:

• You reside in or are preparing to move into a community care facility
• You've been given a terminal diagnosis
• You are aging or dealing with ongoing health issues
• You expect to be in the hospital for a medical procedure

Regardless of whether your Tennessee Healthcare Power of Attorney has been generated as part of a forward-looking plan or created as a result of an urgent issue, witnesses and/or notarization are highly recommended as a best practice for protecting your agent if their power and authority are doubted by a third party.

At times, in researching the topics of elder care and estate planning, you or a loved one may hear the terms "healthcare proxy" and "healthcare power of attorney" being used interchangeably. In reality, they're one and the same. That said, please keep in mind that it is possible to get power of attorney over affairs that aren't health-related, in which case, "proxy" is not usually used.

Tennessee Medical PoA forms are typically simple to make; however, you may still need advice. Finding a lawyer to comment on your Tennessee Healthcare Power of Attorney might be time-intensive and relatively expensive. A more cost-effective route is through attorney services at Rocket Lawyer. If you become a Premium member, you can get your documents reviewed by an On Call attorney with relevant experience. You can rest assured that Rocket Lawyer is by your side.

The cost of finding and hiring your average lawyer to make a Medical Power of Attorney can total anywhere from $200 to $500, depending on your location. Unlike most other Power of Attorney template websites that you may discover, Rocket Lawyer offers Premium membership holders up to 40% in savings when hiring a lawyer, so an attorney from our On Call network can act on your behalf if you ever require help.

With a Premium membership, you can make edits, download it as a Word document or PDF file, and print it out. To make your Power of Attorney truly legal, you will need to sign it. Your agent(s), care providers, and other impacted parties should get copies of your fully executed document.

The rules for PoA forms are different by state; however, in Tennessee, your Power of Attorney will need to be signed by a notary public or two witnesses. At least one witness should not be a relative, spouse, adopted child, heir, or any other beneficiary. As a general rule, your witness(es) should not be under the age of 18, and no witness should simultaneously be your PoA agent.

See Tennessee Healthcare Power of Attorney law: Title 34, Ch. 6, Part 2