User blog comment:Mara the Marine Marauder/Diary Discussions/@comment-131.246.191.250-20150701141219/@comment-25369681-20150701184213

Wow, thanks for the info! I'll look into it! And, of course, my condolences about your gramps (however old or sick he was and whenever this happened).

About "Bankvollmacht": As far as I understand it by now (which doesn't mean much), there are three ways (in Germany) to give next of kin authorization to do bank business for you: You can state it in your "Vorsorgevollmacht" (it's usually not recommended to do only that, and can lead to problems, as your link shows), or you can go to your bank (or banks) and get a "Bankvollmacht" for that bank which states that the person can do all business with that bank, or you can go to your bank(s) and get "Vollmacht" for each bank account individually. The "Vollmacht" (both for all bank business or for individual accounts) issued by the bank has to be signed by your next of kin while you are still alive. (That was the point when I decided I had to tell my parents right now - which, in hindsight, was the right decision for emotional/psychological/social reasons as well.) There are slight difference between the "Bankvollmacht" and "Vollmacht" for each account regarding how many people you can authorize, and (if there are two or more people) whether each bank translation will require both their signatures, or only that of one person. The bank will usually explain the details to the customer.

I know of at least one person among my distant relatives who has given a "Vollmacht" for their savings account to another person they trust, while still alive and in good health, just as a precaution in case something might happen to them and they might die. So that's also something people can do. Of course, it requires a lot of trust, and can be abused. If it is abused while the giver of the "Vollmacht" is still alive and able to do business, the giver can revoke the "Vollmacht" and even sue the person who received it - but it would be quite difficult to undo the financial transactions and damage already done.

Again, thanks for the info - I'll look into the "Patientenverfügung" details as well (even more than I already did)!