Opinion ID: 2590411
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the oklahoma uniform durable power of attorney act

Text: ¶ 11 In 1988, Oklahoma enacted the ODPA Act.1988 Okla. Sess. Laws 1453-1455, ch. 293, §§ 1-11 (now codified at 58 O.S.2001, §§ 1071-1077). The ODPA Act is taken from the Uniform Durable Power of Attorney Act of 1979 (UDPA Act), 8A U.L.A. 233 (2003), and sections 5-501 through 5-505 the Uniform Probate Code (UPC), 8-II U.L.A. 418 (1998). [9] The ODPA allows a principal to create an agency which continues during incapacity or which becomes effective during incapacity. 58 O.S.2001, § 1073; Prefatory Note to UDPA Act, 8 U.L.A. 234 (2003); Prefatory Note to UPC, 8-II U.L.A. 418 (1998). The UDPA Act was developed as an alternative to court involvement in cases of incapacity, Prefatory Note to UDPA Act, 8 U.L.A. 234 (2003); Prefatory Note to UPC, 8-II U.L.A. 418 (1998), and gives a principal some control over who manages his property and person should the principal become incapacitated. ¶ 12 Subsection 1074(A) of the ODPA Act [10] provides: A. If, following execution of a durable power of attorney, a court of the principal's domicile appoints a conservator, guardian of the estate, or other fiduciary charged with the management of all of the principal's property or all of his property except specified exclusions, the attorney-in-fact is accountable to the fiduciary as well as to the principal. The fiduciary has the same power to revoke or amend the power of attorney that the principal would have had if he were not disabled or incapacitated. (Emphasis added.) If the DPA was effectively terminated upon the appointment of a general guardian as Russell argues, there would be nothing for the guardian to revoke or amend, making the last sentence of subsection 1074(A) extraneous. Section 1074(A)'s plain language unambiguously expresses the legislative intent that the authority of an attorney-in-fact acting pursuant to a DPA does not automatically cease with the appointment of a guardian. ¶ 13 The legislative intent expressed in section 1074's plain language is supported by the comments to the UDPA Act and UPC. Section 1074's drafters wrote the UDPA Act and UPC so that the court appointment of a fiduciary, such as a guardian or conservator, would not automatically terminate the DPA but would leave it up to the fiduciary to determine if the agency is appropriate within the guardianship. Prefatory Note to UPC, 8-II U.L.A. 418 (1998). If a guardian is appointed, the attorney-in-fact becomes accountable to the guardian. Id. The guardian may revoke or amend the DPA the same as the principal if the principal were not disabled or incapacitated. Id. ¶ 14 In further support of a DPA's continuing viability after the appointment of a general guardian, the ODPA Act provides only two methods for the termination of a DPA after a ward becomes incapacitated. The first is by the court-appointed fiduciary revoking the DPA. 58 O.S.2001, § 1074(A). The second is by the ward's death, with the exception that the ward's death does not revoke or terminate the agency as to a person who has no knowledge of the death and acts in good faith pursuant to the power. Id. § 1075(A).