Power of Attorney

A document authorizing someone to act on another person's behalf in financial or legal matters.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of Power of Attorney law firms.

What it means

A power of attorney is a written authorization for one person, the agent, to act for another, the principal. It can be broad or narrow - some are written for a single transaction - and it is a delegation of authority rather than a transfer of ownership: the principal keeps their property and, while they have capacity, can revoke the document.

The word durable is the one that matters. An ordinary power of attorney ends if the principal loses capacity, which is precisely when it is most needed; a durable power of attorney is written to survive incapacity. A separate document usually covers health care decisions, and a financial power of attorney generally does not extend to them.

A power of attorney ends at death, at which point authority passes to whoever administers the estate. The agent owes duties to the principal and can be held accountable for abusing the authority - misuse by a trusted person is a recognized category of elder financial abuse.

Under the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, a power of attorney is durable unless it expressly says otherwise (UPOA § 104), which reverses the older default. Some powers are too dangerous to be implied from general language and must be granted expressly. These include creating, amending or revoking a trust, making a gift, creating or changing rights of survivorship, changing a beneficiary designation and delegating the agent's authority (§ 201(a)). An agent must act in good faith, within the scope of the authority granted, and according to the principal's reasonable expectations, and must keep a record of receipts, payments and transactions made for the principal (§ 114). The Act also protects a third party who accepts a document in good faith, and in the states that adopt its optional section it can make a third party who refuses a valid document without a recognized reason liable for the cost of a court order (§§ 119-120).

Where this comes from

When people hire a lawyer for this

The two recurring problems are documents that turn out not to be durable, and documents that banks or title companies decline to accept because they lack a formality or specific authority the state requires. Both are cheap to prevent at drafting and difficult to fix once capacity is lost.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

Find Power of Attorney law firms in your state

Choose your state to see Power of Attorney law firms in the city where we list the most; your city may be under “other cities”, A to Z.

• Alabama (Birmingham)
  +1 other city

  • Montgomery
• Alaska (Anchorage)
• Arizona (Mesa)
  +6 other cities

  • Chandler
  • Gilbert
  • Glendale
  • Phoenix
  • Scottsdale
  • Tucson
• Arkansas (Little Rock)
• California (Long Beach)
  +19 other cities

  • Anaheim
  • Chula Vista
  • Fontana
  • Fremont
  • Irvine
  • Los Angeles
  • Oakland
  • Riverside
  • Sacramento
  • San Bernardino
  • San Diego
  • San Francisco
  • and 7 more with fewer listed firms
• Colorado (Denver)
  +2 other cities

  • Aurora
  • Colorado Springs
• Connecticut (Bridgeport)
• Delaware (Wilmington)
• District of Columbia (Washington)
• Florida (Orlando)
  +5 other cities

  • Hialeah
  • Jacksonville
  • Miami
  • St Petersburg
  • Tampa
• Georgia (Atlanta)
• Hawaii (Honolulu)
• Idaho (Boise)
• Illinois (Chicago)
• Indiana (Indianapolis)
  +1 other city

  • Fort Wayne
• Iowa (Des Moines)
• Kansas (Wichita)
• Kentucky (Lexington)
  +1 other city

  • Louisville
• Louisiana (Baton Rouge)
  +2 other cities

  • New Orleans
  • Shreveport
• Maine (Portland)
• Maryland (Baltimore)
• Massachusetts (Boston)
• Michigan (Detroit)
• Minnesota (Minneapolis)
  +1 other city

  • Saint Paul
• Mississippi (Jackson)
• Missouri (Kansas City)
  +1 other city

  • St. Louis
• Montana (Billings)
• Nebraska (Lincoln)
  +1 other city

  • Omaha
• Nevada (Las Vegas)
  +3 other cities

  • Henderson
  • North Las Vegas
  • Reno
• New Hampshire (Manchester)
• New Jersey (Newark)
  +1 other city

  • Jersey City
• New Mexico (Albuquerque)
• New York (Buffalo)
  +2 other cities

  • New York City
  • Rochester
• North Carolina (Charlotte)
  +5 other cities

  • Durham
  • Fayetteville
  • Greensboro
  • Raleigh
  • Winston-Salem
• North Dakota (Fargo)
• Ohio (Cincinnati)
  +3 other cities

  • Cleveland
  • Columbus
  • Toledo
• Oklahoma (Oklahoma City)
  +1 other city

  • Tulsa
• Oregon (Portland)
• Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
  +1 other city

  • Pittsburgh
• Rhode Island (Providence)
• South Carolina (Columbia)
• South Dakota (Sioux Falls)
• Tennessee (Nashville)
  +1 other city

  • Memphis
• Texas (Arlington)
  +12 other cities

  • Austin
  • Corpus Christi
  • Dallas
  • El Paso
  • Fort Worth
  • Garland
  • Houston
  • Irving
  • Laredo
  • Lubbock
  • Plano
  • San Antonio
• Utah (Salt Lake City)
• Vermont (Burlington)
• Virginia (Chesapeake)
  +3 other cities

  • Norfolk
  • Richmond
  • Virginia Beach
• Washington (Tacoma)
  +2 other cities

  • Seattle
  • Spokane
• West Virginia (Charleston)
• Wisconsin (Madison)
  +1 other city

  • Milwaukee
• Wyoming (Cheyenne)

Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

• Beneficiary Designation (Payable-on-Death)The single line on an account form that overrides the will - and the commonest reason an estate plan does not do what the family expected.
• Contesting a WillThe narrow legal grounds for setting a will aside - and why "it is not fair" is not one of them.
• Elder LawThe practice area that brings together the legal problems of aging: paying for long-term care, Medicaid eligibility, planning for incapacity, guardianship, and protection from abuse and financial exploitation.
• Estate Planning (What an Estate Plan Is Made Of)The set of documents and arrangements that decide who manages your affairs if you cannot, who inherits what, and how, with the least cost, delay and tax.
• Executor (Personal Representative)The person a court authorizes to wind up an estate - a job with real duties, real personal exposure, and a right to be paid.
• Guardianship and ConservatorshipA court transferring legal decision-making for an adult who cannot make decisions themselves - the most restrictive option, and often not the necessary one.
• Intestate SuccessionThe statutory order in which a person's property passes when they die without a valid will - a default set by the state, not by the family.
• Last Will and TestamentThe document that says who inherits what - and, just as importantly, the many things it does not control.
• ProbateThe court process that settles a deceased person's estate: validating any will, paying debts, and transferring what remains.
• Revocable Living TrustA container you put property into during life so it can pass at death without a court - useful, oversold, and useless if left unfunded.
• Small Estate AffidavitThe sworn form that lets a family collect a modest estate without opening a probate case at all.
• Special Needs TrustA trust that holds money for a person with a disability without disqualifying them from SSI and Medicaid, the difference between first-party and third-party trusts, and the ABLE account alternative.
• Spousal Elective ShareThe statutory right of a surviving spouse to claim a portion of the estate regardless of what the will says.
• Successor Trustee DutiesWhat a person named to take over a living trust after the creator dies or becomes incapacitated must do, the duties the law imposes, and when a trustee can be personally liable.

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