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The Pennsylvania Minor Child Power of Attorney particularizes an extension of parental authority to an additional person for a short-term span of time. Contractual allotments transferring the right to sign or make decisions in place of a parent can assist when a parent is away. This may be a valuable option should a parent be deployed for military purposes, imprisoned, hospitalized, or relocated for vocational reasons. An alternative method to temporarily deliver parental rights to care for a minor is the Pennsylvania Standby Guardianship Form, which can be set up to distribute controls upon an indicated date or triggering event. This can allow for the issuance of powers for routine situations like a vacation to allow someone to take care of the child’s routine medical and educational needs while the parent is unavailable.

Laws

Statutes – Pennsylvania Statutes Title 20, Chapter 56 – Powers of Attorney and Pennsylvania Statutes Title 23, Chapter 56, Subchapter B – Standby Guardianship

Signing Requirements – The Pennsylvania Standby Guardianship Form will need corroboration from 2 witnesses to be enforceable (§ 5611(c.2)), whereas the power of attorney documents will further require a notary public to supervise the signing process as well (§ 5601(b)).