2023 Connecticut General Statutes › Title 1 - Provisions of General Application › Chapter 15c - Connecticut Uniform Power of Attorney Act and Connecticut Uniform Recognition of Substitute Decision-Making Documents Act › Section 1-351. - Authority that requires specific grant. Grant of general authority.

(a) An agent under a power of attorney may perform the activities listed in this subsection on behalf of the principal or with the principal's property only if the power of attorney expressly grants the agent the authority to perform such activities and exercise of the authority to perform such activities is not otherwise prohibited by another agreement or instrument to which the authority or property is subject such as a trust agreement:
(1) Create, amend, revoke, or terminate an inter vivos trust, provided, in the case of a trust established for a disabled person pursuant to 42 USC 1396p(d)(4)(A) or 42 USC 1396p(d)(4)(C), the creation of such trust by an agent shall be only as permitted by federal law;
(2) Make a gift;
(3) Create or change rights of survivorship;
(4) Create or change a beneficiary designation;
(5) Waive the principal's right to be a beneficiary of a joint and survivor annuity, including a survivor benefit under a retirement plan;
(6) Exercise fiduciary powers that the principal has authority to delegate;
(7) Disclaim property, including a power of appointment;
(8) Exercise all powers the principal may have over any of the principal's digital device, digital asset, user account and electronically stored information, including any user account and digital asset that currently exists or may exist as technology develops, whether the same is in the principal's name or that the principal owns or lawfully uses jointly with any other individual; such powers include, but are not limited to, changing and circumventing the principal's username and password to gain access to such user accounts and information; transferring or withdrawing funds or other assets among or from such user accounts; and opening new user accounts in the principal's name, all as the agent determines is necessary or advisable. The principal may give the principal's lawful consent and authorize the agent to access, manage, control, delete and terminate any electronically stored information and communications of the principal to the extent fully allowable under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, 18 USC 2510 et seq., as amended from time to time, the Connecticut Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, and any other federal, state or international privacy law or other law. The agent is authorized to take any actions the principal is authorized to take under all applicable terms of service, terms of use, licensing and other account agreements or laws. To the extent a specific reference to any federal, state, local or international law is required in order to give effect to the provisions of this subdivision, the principal may provide that the principal's intention is to so reference such law, whether such law is now in existence or comes into existence or is amended after the date of execution of the power of attorney; or
(9) With respect to any intellectual property interests of the principal, including, without limitation, copyrights, contracts for payments of royalties and trademarks, act in all ways with respect to such interests as if the agent were the owner thereof, including, without limitation, registering ownership, transferring ownership and recording documents to effectuate or memorialize such transfer, granting and revoking licenses, entering, terminating and enforcing agreements, defending ownership and conferring agency upon professionals to represent the principal's interests before governmental agencies, and in general, to exercise all powers with respect to the intellectual property that the principal could exercise if present.
(b) Notwithstanding a grant of authority to perform an act described in subsection (a) of this section, unless the power of attorney otherwise provides, an agent may not exercise authority under a power of attorney to create in the agent, or a dependent of the agent, an interest in the principal's property, whether by gift, right of survivorship, beneficiary designation, disclaimer or otherwise.
(c) Subject to the provisions set forth in subsections (a), (b), (d) and (e) of this section, if a power of attorney grants to an agent authority to perform all acts that a principal could perform, the agent has the general authority described in sections 1-351c to 1-351o, inclusive. Such general authority shall permit the agent to authorize another person to exercise the authority granted under the power of attorney.
(d) Unless the power of attorney otherwise provides, a grant of authority to make a gift is subject to section 1-351p.
(e) Subject to the provisions set forth in subsections (a), (b) and (d) of this section, if the subjects over which authority is granted in a power of attorney are similar or overlap, the broadest authority controls.
(f) Authority granted in a power of attorney is exercisable with respect to property that the principal has when the power of attorney is executed or acquires later, whether or not the property is located in this state and whether or not the authority is exercised or the power of attorney is executed in this state.
(g) An act performed by an agent pursuant to a power of attorney has the same effect and inures to the benefit of and binds the principal and the principal's successors in interest as if the principal had performed the act.
(P.A. 15-240, S. 24; P.A. 16-40, S. 9; P.A. 17-91, S. 11; P.A. 19-32, S. 1.)
History: P.A. 15-240 effective July 1, 2016; P.A. 16-40 changed effective date of P.A. 15-240, S. 24, from July 1, 2016, to October 1, 2016, effective May 27, 2016; P.A. 17-91 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting Subdiv. (5) re agent's delegation of authority, redesignating existing Subdivs. (6) to (8) as Subdivs. (5) to (7), adding new Subdiv. (8) re agent's exercise of principal's powers over digital device or asset, user account and electronically stored information and adding Subdiv.(9) re agent's exercise of principal's powers re intellectual property interests, amended Subsec. (b) by deleting “that is not an ancestor, spouse or descendant of the principal” and by replacing “in an individual to whom the agent owes a legal obligation of support” with “a dependent of the agent”, and amended Subsec. (c) by adding provision re general authority permitting agent to authorize another person to exercise authority granted under power of attorney, effective July 1, 2017; P.A. 19-32 made a technical change in Subsec. (a)(8).