What Can We Learn From Chief Justice Warren Burger? Understanding the Importance of Powers in Legal Documents

No stranger to legal writings, Chief Justice Burger drafted and typed his own last will prior to his passing in 1995. The 176-word last will did not include a “powers” section nor any mention of taxes. Many articles were written about his tax consequences, but we’ll leave that to the wise accountants and CPAs to sort out. I stay in my legal lane, and we have much legalizing to do here.

What Can We Learn From this DIY Last Will?

We can learn the importance of powers in a legal document. Oftentimes, the powers sections of the last will and other legal documents are considered “boiler plate” language, but nothing can be further from the truth. This is the section where we empower our agents to act. Without these powers, our agents are appointed, but without the ability to act. As was the case in Justice Burger’s last will. The family was forced to go into probate Court to get an order to sell the property as the too-brief last will did not give the Personal representatives the ability to manage his estate.

The Significance of Powers in Legal Documents

Most properly drafted last wills include a power section where we overpower our personal representatives as we’re not really sure what they’ll need to do. We’d rather over-power them than require something and not have it. Much like the boy scouts, we’d rather be over-prepared. For this reason, we don’t remove the powers that don’t apply, we just keep ‘em all in.

Integrating the FFADAA

New documents should also include and refer to the Florida Fiduciaries Access to Digital Assets Act (“FFADAA”), extending estate administrators the same authority to manage digital assets that they have to manage traditional assets through a last will, trust, or power of attorney. Digital assets are defined as email and social media accounts, bitcoin and digital currencies, photos and documents stored in a cloud, websites and blogs, etc. Without a reference to the FFADAA, the agent may not have all the powers needed as we live in a digital age.

So, there you have it, we learn that the powers section of a last will (or any legal document for that matter) doesn’t get enough love, it’s important. We also learn that the adage, “a man who represents himself in a legal proceeding has a fool for a client” still holds.