Texas Financial Power of Attorney
Texas does not require witnesses for a financial power of attorney. To be durable, the document must be signed by an adult principal, acknowledged before a notary, and must contain durability wording set out in the Estates Code. Texas publishes a statutory form, but its use is optional.
What Texas law does to this document
What makes a power of attorney durable
The instrument must be signed by an adult principal and acknowledged before an officer authorized to take acknowledgments and administer oaths, such as a notary. It must also state that it is not affected by the principal's later disability or incapacity, or that it becomes effective on disability or incapacity, or use similar words. The statute does not call for witnesses.
Tex. Est. Code § 751.0021(a)The statutory form is optional
The Estates Code prints a form called the statutory durable power of attorney, and a document that substantially follows it has the meaning the statute gives it. The form is not exclusive, and other forms may be used. The form warns that an agent may sign home equity loan documents only if the principal signed the power of attorney at the office of the lender, an attorney or a title company.
Tex. Est. Code §§ 752.001, 752.003, 752.051Springing powers and proof of incapacity
A power of attorney may take effect only on the principal's disability or incapacity. Unless the document defines the term differently, the principal is considered incapacitated when a physician certifies in writing, after the document was signed and based on a medical examination, that the principal is mentally incapable of managing financial affairs. A person asked to accept the document may ask the agent for a certification that includes a physician's statement.
Tex. Est. Code §§ 751.00201, 751.203(a)Powers that need an express grant
Five powers exist only if the document grants them expressly. They include making gifts, changing beneficiary designations, and creating or revoking a living trust. General gift language authorizes gifts only up to the federal annual gift tax exclusion per recipient, or twice that amount if the principal's spouse consents to split the gift. An agent who is not an ancestor, spouse or descendant of the principal may not use these powers to benefit the agent unless the document says otherwise.
Tex. Est. Code §§ 751.031(b), 751.031(c), 751.032Recording for real estate
When an agent signs a deed, deed of trust or other instrument that will be recorded, the power of attorney must be recorded with the county clerk of the county where the property is located. The deadline is the 30th day after the instrument is filed for recording.
Tex. Est. Code § 751.151Banks and others must accept or respond
A person presented with a durable power of attorney must accept it or, within 10 business days, ask for an agent's certification or an opinion of counsel. After receiving what it asked for, the person has seven business days to accept, unless a statutory ground for refusal applies. If a refusal violates the statute, the principal or agent may sue for an order compelling acceptance, and the court may award costs and attorney's fees.
Tex. Est. Code §§ 751.201, 751.212Where people go wrong in Texas
- Treating the generator's draft as the Texas statutory form: it is a general durable power of attorney with its own durability wording and notary block, and it does not carry the notices printed in the form at Tex. Est. Code § 752.051, including the warning that an agent may sign home equity loan documents only if the principal signs at the office of the lender, an attorney or a title company.
- Assuming a broad general grant lets the agent make large gifts or change beneficiary designations, which require express authority.
- Signing real estate documents as agent without recording the power of attorney in the county where the property sits.
How the generator works
Names someone you trust to handle your money and property matters, either only if you become incapacitated (durable) or starting right away, plus a matching revocation to cancel it. Answer a short interview and the draft assembles as you go, with Texas already set as the governing state. Download it as PDF or Word. No fee. No account.