Power of Attorney in Florida

The Florida statutory form

No statutory form — F.S. §709.2105 (execution); §709.2202 (powers that must be separately initialed). Florida has no official form; the statute sets the formalities and requires gifting, trust and beneficiary powers to be initialed separately.

The statutory form is the one banks and recorders in Florida see most often, and the one the statute requires third parties to accept when it is properly signed. A lawyer-drafted power of attorney is equally valid if it is executed the same way.

How to sign a power of attorney in Florida

A power of attorney must be signed by the principal in the presence of two subscribing witnesses and acknowledged before a notary public (F.S. §709.2105).

Two subscribing witnesses plus the notary. The notary may also serve as one of the witnesses.

Who may not witness

• The agent is not barred by statute but should not witness; title companies reject it

Florida abolished springing powers of attorney for documents signed on or after October 1, 2011 — a Florida power of attorney must be effective immediately (§709.2108).

Online notarization in Florida

Florida's remote online notarization law (F.S. §117.285) is the law Rush Notary's notaries work under. Witnesses may appear by audio-video as long as they are physically in the United States and are identified the same way the signer is; the notarized electronic power of attorney is valid everywhere in Florida.

Rush Notary’s notaries are commissioned online notaries public in Florida and notarize for Florida signers over live video under Florida’s remote online notarization law. The certificate they complete is a Florida certificate; Florida honors it under the recognition rule above. Your witnesses can join the same session from anywhere in the United States. Details for this state are on the Florida online notarization requirements page.

Using it for real estate

A power of attorney for a conveyance is recorded with the clerk of court in the county where the land lies; the deed must reference it. A spouse must join a conveyance of homestead, which can also be done under a power of attorney that expressly covers it.

Title companies also ask the agent to sign an affidavit at closing that the principal is alive and the power has not been revoked, and lenders review the document before closing. See the real estate power of attorney page.

Medical power of attorney in Florida

A designation of health care surrogate (F.S. §765.202) must be signed before two adult witnesses; no notary is required. The surrogate may not witness, and at least one witness must be neither the spouse nor a blood relative.

What a health-care agent can decide, and how the document differs from a living will, is on the medical power of attorney page.

Revoking a Florida power of attorney

Revoke by a signed writing delivered to the agent; a later power of attorney revokes an earlier one only if it says so (F.S. §709.2110). Record the revocation if the power was recorded.