Many New Yorkers may not even have one power of attorney, let alone several of them. However, some people - particularly those with more than one child - may want to share the wealth, so to speak, by allowing each child to have authority over an aspect of their parents' lives. They do this by including multiple powers of attorney when drafting a will.
How does this work? A person may have one child act as power of attorney for medical issues, while one may have authority over finances and even another may have control over investments. This is definitely not a common situation, but if everyone gets along well, then it can be beneficial. If not, then disputes can erupt and the end result will be a messy legal battle, which is usually not what someone wants after their death.
Limiting the powers of attorney may make sense in these types of situations. This allows an individual to let each person exercise some control over a certain aspect without granting any single person the full power of attorney. In some cases, though, such as healthcare, a person may want all children to have some say in how medical care is handled to ensure that the person's final wishes are being taken into consideration.
Although it makes things easier when there is only one power of attorney involved in healthcare and financial decisions, multiple parties can effectively work together to ensure that a person's assets, finances and medical care are taken care of.