The Nebraska Legislature in 2010 amended the Durable Power of Attorney Act. The amendment provides that a person who has been named as an attorney in fact CAN NOT
create or change rights of survivorship, or
create or change a beneficiary designation
UNLESS, the power of attorney document expressly grants the agent the authority to perform such acts.
When estate planning, if the grantor of the power attorney (usually Mom or Dad) is no longer competent to sign a new power of attorney and the goal is to make it easier to transfer the certificates of deposit to the children, WHAT THIS CHANGE MEANS is that the attorney in fact (usually one of the children) cannot redo the certificates of deposit to include all the children as joint owners or to have all of the children designated as payable on death beneficiaries.
The Nebraska Legislature in 2010 also passed a Statute to allow a motor vehicle to be titled as “transfer on death” by “including on the certificate a designation of beneficiaries to whom the vehicle will be transferred on the death of the owner and the words “transfer on death or TOD”. BUT REMEMBER, if you are trying to use a power of attorney document to add the beneficiaries and the power of attorney does not allow you to create a beneficiary designation; then you cannot change the title.
All is not lost, the County Court has authority under our probate code to allow the changes when needed.
