How to Create a Special Power of Attorney

A power of attorney (POA) or simply a "power" for short, is a piece of paper. With it you give someone the right to act for you. The person acting for you is your agent also known as your "attorney-in-fact."

There are two basic types: special and general.

A general power of attorney is not limited to a specific purpose. If you just want someone to be able to act for you while you are out of the country then the general one is what you need.

A special power of attorney is used to give another person authority to do one specific thing. For example, if you want to give your attorney authority to sign his name to a check you can use the following:

I, Bill Wilks, do hereby grant my attorney Sam Smith the right to sign my name to the insurance settlement check so that I do not have to drive to Salt Lake City from Moab to do the signing.

Your signature and the date.

As you can see this does not require a notary seal. This is a POA in its simplest form. You can dress it up from here and add legal mumbo-jumbo as needed to create a document you feel good about. However, if you are comfortable with a simple English document, so are the courts.

Now let us say you are in Iraq, on active duty. You want your wife back in Sandy, Utah to renew your car's registration but she cannot do it without your POA. Here is what that might look like.

I, Andy Rasmussen, do hereby grant my wife, Jesica Rasmussen, a special POA to sign my name to any documents needed to accomplish re-registration of my 1956 Plymouth Fury so that I do not have to return from Iraq just to re-register my car. Your signature and the date.

Once again, no notary seal is required but you can always dress it up a bit if you like.

Let us try one more. Let us say you are buying your first home. Your wife can attend the closing but you cannot.

I, Sam Bidwell, do hereby grant my beloved wife, Greta Bidwell, a special POA to sign my name to any and all closing documents at the closing of the home we are purchasing at 1308 Howard Drive, Albany, Oregon. Your signature and the date.

Once again-very simple.

Conclusion

A special power is a very simple document. You do not need to make it complicated. Use it to grant someone the right to act for you on one limited occasion.