The Risks of a Poorly Planned Nebraska Power of Attorney (and How to Avoid Them)

A Power of Attorney document is both very important—and very dangerous.

Everyone should have one. In Nebraska estate planning, a Power of Attorney allows you to appoint someone to handle financial and property decisions if you become unable to do so yourself. There are also Powers of Attorney for healthcare decisions (often called a Power of Attorney for Health Care or part of an Advance Directive), but the financial Power of Attorney is where the greatest risk lies.

Think about it: if you were incapacitated, unconscious, or out of the country for an extended period, someone would need to step in. Bills still need to be paid. Taxes still need to be filed. Property still needs to be managed. Without a Nebraska Power of Attorney in place, your loved ones would likely have to go to court to have someone appointed—through a conservatorship for financial matters, or a guardianship for personal decisions. That process is time-consuming, stressful, and expensive.

But with great power comes great risk.

When someone is named as an agent under a financial Power of Attorney, they gain access to bank accounts, investments, property transactions, and more. Nebraska law (through the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-4001 et seq.) requires agents to act in good faith, in the principal’s best interest, and to avoid conflicts of interest. But in practice, many agents either don’t understand these duties—or ignore them.

And the scope of their authority depends on how the document is drafted. A well-crafted Power of Attorney clearly defines what powers are granted (or limited). Generic forms often leave these details vague or incomplete—opening the door to confusion or abuse. It’s also important to know whether the Power of Attorney is effective immediately (which is most common and recommended in Nebraska for practical reasons), or “springing”—only coming into effect upon a doctor’s certification of incapacity, which can create delays and proof challenges.

Unfettered access to another person’s finances is simply too tempting for some. I’ve seen cases where an agent begins treating the money as their own—buying things, transferring funds, or draining accounts. And often, there is no automatic oversight. Abuse may go undetected unless someone happens to notice and has the resources (and willingness) to take legal action. In Nebraska, that typically means petitioning the court to compel an accounting, remove the agent, or recover misused funds—but by the time this happens, the damage is often already done.

That’s why it is absolutely vital to have a Power of Attorney in place—and to choose your agent very carefully. The document itself is essential—you hope it never needs to be used—but if it is, the person you’ve appointed must be someone you trust implicitly. Prevention is far easier than trying to clean up financial abuse after the fact.

As a Nebraska estate lawyer, I always tell clients: having a well-drafted Power of Attorney is one of the smartest steps you can take to protect yourself and your family. But the choice of who you appoint—and the clarity of the document itself—are just as important as having the document in place. Abuse is more common than most people realize—and it is much harder to fix than it is to prevent.

If you’d like to make sure your Power of Attorney—and the rest of your estate plan—is properly in place and reflects your wishes, I’d be happy to help. You can reach me at 402-259-0059 or zach@zandersonlaw.com to schedule a consultation.