Power of Attorney in Minnesota

The Minnesota statutory form

Minnesota Statutory Short Form Power of Attorney — Minn. Stat. §523.23. Must include the statutory notice (“Important Notice to the Principal”) to be valid as a statutory short form.

The statutory form is the one banks and recorders in Minnesota 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 Minnesota

The statutory short form must be signed by the principal and acknowledged before a notary public (Minn. Stat. §523.23, §523.01).

No witnesses are required.

Online notarization in Minnesota

Minnesota's RULONA gives a notarial act performed in another state the same effect as a Minnesota act (Minn. Stat. §358.61); Minnesota remote notarization has run since 2019.

Rush Notary’s notaries are commissioned online notaries public in Florida and notarize for Minnesota signers over live video under Florida’s remote online notarization law. The certificate they complete is a Florida certificate; Minnesota honors it under the recognition rule above. Details for this state are on the Minnesota online notarization requirements page.

Using it for real estate

A power of attorney used for a conveyance must be acknowledged and recorded with the county recorder or registrar of titles; the statutory short form includes real property powers.

Title companies also ask the agent to sign an affidavit at closing that the principal is alive and the power has not been revoked, and lenders review the document before closing.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

A Minnesota health care directive (Minn. Stat. §145C.03) must be notarized or signed before two adult witnesses; the agent may not witness, and at least one witness may not be a health-care provider.

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 Minnesota power of attorney

Revoke by a signed and dated writing delivered to the agent (§523.11); record it where the original was recorded.

Using a power of attorney for a birth or death certificate in Minnesota

Whether an agent can request a certified copy of a Minnesota birth, death or marriage record under a power of attorney, and what the application itself needs, is on the Minnesota vital records page. The power of attorney for vital records page covers how to draft one.