§ 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.)