TITLE 18
Fiduciaries
CHAPTER 18-16
Rhode Island Short Form Power of Attorney Act
SECTION 18-16-4
§ 18-16-4 Chattel and goods transactions.
(a) In a statutory short form power of attorney, the language conferring
general authority with respect to chattel and goods transactions shall be
construed to mean that the principal authorizes the agent:
(1) To accept as a gift, or as security for a loan, to
reject, to demand, to buy, to receive, or otherwise to acquire either ownership
or possession of, any chattel or goods or any interest in any chattel or goods;
(2) To sell, to exchange, to convey either with or without
covenants, to release, to surrender, to mortgage, to encumber, to pledge, to
hypothecate, to pawn, to revoke, to grant options concerning, to lease or to
sublet to others, or otherwise to dispose of any chattel or goods or any
interest in any chattel or goods;
(3) To release in whole or in part, to assign the whole or a
part of, to satisfy in whole or in part, and to enforce by action, proceeding
or otherwise, any mortgage, encumbrance, lien or other claim, which exists, or
is claimed to exist, in favor of the principal, with respect to any chattel or
goods of any interest in any chattel or goods;
(4) To do any act of management or of conservation, with
respect to any chattel or goods or to any interest in any chattel or goods
owned, or claimed to be owned, by the principal, including, but not limited to,
power to insure against any casualty, liability or loss, to obtain or to regain
possession, or to protect any chattel or goods or interest in any chattel or
goods, by action, proceeding or otherwise, to pay, to compromise or to contest
taxes or assessments, to apply for refunds in connection with any chattel or
goods, to move from place to place, to store for hire or on a gratuitous
bailment, to use, to alter and to make repairs or alterations of any chattel or
goods, or interest in any chattel or goods;
(5) To demand, to receive, to obtain by action, proceeding or
otherwise, any money or other thing of value to which the principal is, or may
become, or may claim to be, entitled as the proceeds of any chattel or goods or
of any interest in any chattel or goods, or of one or more of the transactions
enumerated in this section, to conserve, to invest, to disburse or to utilize
anything received for purposes enumerated in this section, and to be reimbursed
for any expenditures properly made by him or her in the execution of the powers
conferred on him or her by the statutory short form power of attorney;
(6) To agree and to contract, in any manner, and with any
person and on any terms, which the agent may select, for the accomplishment of
any of the purposes enumerated in this section, and to perform, to rescind, to
reform, to release or to modify this agreement or contract or any other similar
agreement or contract made by or on behalf of the principal;
(7) To execute, to acknowledge, to seal and to deliver any
conveyance, revocation, declaration, mortgage, lease, notice, check or other
instrument which the agent may think useful for the accomplishment of any of
the purposes enumerated in this section; (8) To prosecute, to defend, to submit
to arbitration, to settle, and to propose or to accept a compromise with
respect to, any claim existing in favor of, or against, the principal based on
or involving any chattel or goods transaction or to intervene in any action or
proceedings relating to any claim;
(9) To hire, to discharge and to compensate any attorney,
accountant, expert witness or other assistant or assistants when the agent
deems this action to be desirable for the proper execution by him or her of any
of the powers described in this section, and for the keeping of needed records
of these actions; and
(10) In general, and in addition to all the specific acts
enumerated in this section, to do any other act or acts, which the principal
can do through an agent, with respect to any chattel or goods or interest in
any chattel or goods.
(b) All powers described in this section shall be equally
exercisable with respect to any chattel or goods or interest in any chattel or
goods owned by the principal at the giving of the power of attorney or
thereafter acquired, whether located in the state of Rhode Island or elsewhere.
History of Section.
(P.L. 1996, ch. 375, § 1.)