Readable version: Power of attorney signing requirements by state, explained state by state. All site datasets: open data · data roundups.
What this dataset covers
How a financial power of attorney is signed in each state: notary and witness rules, whether the agent must sign an acknowledgment, whether the state adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, its statutory form, recording for real estate, durability and the health care document rule.
Most often unconfirmed in this release: recording (21), upoaa (21), healthcare (20), agent_ack (19), form (16). 14 jurisdictions have their own page on the site (CT, FL, MI, MN, NC, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, PA, SC, WA, WV); their rows also carry the explanatory text and all sources shown there.
Field dictionary
| Field | Meaning | Type | In this release |
|---|---|---|---|
jurisdiction_code | Two-letter postal code of the state or DC. | string | 51 of 51 filled |
jurisdiction | State name (or District of Columbia). | string | 51 of 51 filled |
upoaa.adopted | Whether the state adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act. | boolean | 30 of 51 filled: true (25), false (5) |
upoaa.year | Year of adoption. | integer | 20 of 51 filled; 2007 to 2023 |
upoaa.text | Detail on the act. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 9 of 51 filled |
notary.rule | Notary rule for the principal's signature. | string (code) | 43 of 51 filled: required (26), presumption (13), either (4) |
notary.text | The notary rule in plain English. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 14 of 51 filled |
notary.wording | The official source's own words. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 12 of 51 filled |
witnesses.count | Number of witnesses required. | integer | 37 of 51 filled; 0 to 2 |
witnesses.alt | Whether witnesses are an alternative to a notary. | boolean | 40 of 51 filled: false (36), true (4) |
witnesses.text | The witness rule in plain English. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 14 of 51 filled |
witnesses.wording | The official source's own words. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 11 of 51 filled |
agent_ack.required | Whether the agent must sign an acknowledgment. | string (code) | 32 of 51 filled: false (25), true (4), form (3) |
agent_ack.text | Detail on the agent's acknowledgment. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 13 of 51 filled |
agent_ack.wording | The official source's own words. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 13 of 51 filled |
form.exists | Whether the state has a statutory form. | boolean | 35 of 51 filled: true (32), false (3) |
form.name | Name of that form. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string | 8 of 51 filled |
form.url | Link to the form. | string (URL) | 32 of 51 filled |
form.text | Detail on the form. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 10 of 51 filled |
recording.rule | When the power of attorney must be recorded. | string (code) | 30 of 51 filled: none_in_act (17), optional (5), required (5), may_be_asked (2), after_incapacity (1) |
recording.text | The recording rule in plain English. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 11 of 51 filled |
recording.wording | The official source's own words. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 11 of 51 filled |
durable.default | Whether a power of attorney is durable unless it says otherwise. | boolean | 41 of 51 filled: true (30), false (11) |
durable.text | The durability rule in plain English. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 14 of 51 filled |
durable.wording | The official source's own words. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 14 of 51 filled |
healthcare.rule | Signing rule for the health care document. | string (code) | 31 of 51 filled: notary_or_witnesses (15), witnesses (14), notary (1), witnesses_and_notary (1) |
healthcare.witnesses | Witnesses for the health care document. | integer | 28 of 51 filled; 1 to 2 |
healthcare.text | The health care rule in plain English. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 12 of 51 filled |
healthcare.wording | The official source's own words. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 12 of 51 filled |
notes | Other points from the official source. Present only for jurisdictions that have their own page on the site. | string (free text) | 7 of 51 filled |
unconfirmed | Fields the official sources read did not confirm for this row. Those values are null. | array of strings | 44 of 51 rows list at least one |
source_urls | Links to the official sources (all of them for jurisdictions with their own page; the main linked source for the others). | array of strings | 51 of 51 filled |
checked | When the row's sources were opened (YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD). A row with no official source carries the date of the check that found none. | date (YYYY-MM-DD) | 51 of 51 filled |
page_url | The page on mcc-solutionsnj.com that explains this row. | string (URL) | 51 of 51 filled |
Preview: the first 10 rows
jurisdiction | notary.rule | witnesses.count | upoaa.adopted | form.exists | durable.default | checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | null | null | null | null | null | 2026-11 |
| Alaska | required | 0 | null | true | null | 2026-11 |
| Arizona | required | 1 | null | null | false | 2026-11 |
| Arkansas | presumption | 0 | true | true | true | 2026-11 |
| California | either | 2 | null | true | null | 2026-11 |
| Colorado | presumption | 0 | true | true | true | 2026-11 |
| Connecticut | presumption | 2 | true | true | true | 2026-11 |
| Delaware | null | 1 | false | true | true | 2026-11 |
| District of Columbia | required | 0 | true | true | null | 2026-11 |
| Florida | required | 2 | false | false | false | 2026-11 |
7 of 34 columns shown; the downloads have every column in full.
Download formats
The CSV has one row per jurisdiction and one column per field above, UTF-8, comma-separated. Nested fields use dotted names (upoaa.adopted); lists are joined with | , and lists of objects become key: value; key: value items. The JSON keeps types (numbers, true/false, null, arrays) and includes this dictionary, the license and the checked date.
License
License: free to copy, share and adapt, including commercially, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Attribution required: credit "MCC Solutions" and link to this dataset page (https://mcc-solutionsnj.com/data/poa-signing). The cite box below has text ready to paste.
Accuracy
Accuracy: every fact comes from an official government page as it read when checked (November 2026 for this release). Anything those pages did not confirm is null and named in the row's unconfirmed list; a null that is not on the list means the point does not apply or the source states none. This is general information, not legal or tax advice. We are not lawyers, and MCC Solutions is not a law firm.
Cite this data
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit MCC Solutions and link to https://mcc-solutionsnj.com/data/poa-signing.
Changelog
- November 2026: sources checked for all 51 jurisdictions; this release has 34 fields, 584 confirmed values and 126 unconfirmed items.
- Downloads are generated from the data files on each request, so a corrected file shows up in the CSV and JSON straight away; a new entry is added here when the sources are checked again.