This guide covers the durable power of attorney as an instrument of both essential planning and routine exploitation. It sets out the authority the instrument confers, the fiduciary duties the agent owes, and the enforcement gap created by the absence of any supervising authority. Separate parts address the powers that require express grant, the acceptance and refusal regime governing financial institutions, springing conditions, and co-agent structures. Substantive parts cover capacity and undue influence as distinct inquiries, the beneficiary designation problem and the federal preemption decisions that make designations difficult to unwind, and the exploitation patterns that recur. Later parts address financial institution monitoring obligations, adult protective services, criminal fraud and identity statutes, forfeiture and restitution, forum selection and the probate exception, civil remedies, limitations, and the drafting provisions that supply supervision.