Signing Requirements
The principal and the agent are required to have their signatures acknowledged by a notary public.[1]
Powers Granted
A principal can grant an agent the power to do any legal act that the principal may do through an agent. This may include things like:
- Real property;
- Tangible personal property;
- Stocks and bonds;
- Commodities and options;
- Banks and other financial institutions;
- Operation of entity or business;
- Insurance and annuities;
- Estates, trusts, and other beneficial interests;
- Claims and litigation;
- Personal and family maintenance;
- Benefits from governmental programs or civil or military service;
- Retirement plans;
- Taxes; and
- Gifts.
A power of attorney may not grant an agent the power to:[2]
- To make, publish, declare, amend or revoke a will for the principal;
- To make, execute, modify or revoke a living will declaration for the principal;
- To require the principal, against his or her will, to take any action or to refrain from taking any action; or
- To carry out any actions specifically forbidden by the principal while not under any disability or incapacity.
“Durable” Definition
“Durable power of attorney”, a written power of attorney in which the authority of the attorney in fact does not terminate in the event the principal becomes disabled or incapacitated or in the event of later uncertainty as to whether the principal is dead or alive and which complies with subsection 1 of Section 404.705 or is durable under the laws of any of the following places:[3]
(a) The law of the place where executed;
(b) The law of the place of the residence of the principal when executed; or
(c) The law of a place designated in the written power of attorney if that place has a reasonable relationship to the purpose of the instrument.[4]
“Power of Attorney” Definition
“Power of attorney,” a written power of attorney, either durable or not durable;[5]
Revocation
A power of attorney terminates when:[6]
- The power of attorney specifies that it ends;
- The principal modifies, terminates, or revokes the power of attorney;
- The principal dies;
- The agent is not qualified to act on behalf of the principal; or
- The agent and principal are divorced from each other.
The principal may amend, modify, or revoke a durable power of attorney any time before their death or incapacity.