(a) In a statutory form power of attorney, the language granting power with respect to personal and family maintenance empowers the agent to do all of the following:
(1) Do the acts necessary to maintain the customary standard of living of the principal, the principal’s spouse, children, and other individuals customarily or legally entitled to be supported by the principal, including providing living quarters by purchase, lease, or other contract, or paying the operating costs, including interest, amortization payments, repairs, and taxes on premises owned by the principal and occupied by those individuals.
(2) Provide for the individuals described in paragraph (1) all of the following:
(A) Normal domestic help.
(B) Usual vacations and travel expenses.
(C) Funds for shelter, clothing, food, appropriate education, and other current living costs.
(3) Pay for the individuals described in paragraph (1) necessary medical, dental, and surgical care, hospitalization, and custodial care.
(4) Continue any provision made by the principal, for the individuals described in paragraph (1), for automobiles or other means of transportation, including registering, licensing, insuring, and replacing them.
(5) Maintain or open charge accounts for the convenience of the individuals described in paragraph (1) and open new accounts the agent considers desirable to accomplish a lawful purpose.
(6) Continue payments incidental to the membership or affiliation of the principal in a church, club, society, order, or other organization and continue contributions to those organizations.
(b) The authority of an agent with respect to personal and family maintenance under this section is not dependent on any other grant of authority to the agent to make gifts on the principal’s behalf and is not limited by any limitation that otherwise applies to the authority of the agent to make gifts on the principal’s behalf.
(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 113, Sec. 7. (AB 1082) Effective January 1, 2012.)