How it works. Pick the state and whether the document is financial or healthcare. You get the signing steps in order (official form, notary, witnesses, the agent's acknowledgment, recording for real estate), each marked required, optional or not confirmed, with the official link.
Build a signing checklist
Texas: financial power of attorney
3 steps required
- Recommended or optionalStatutory formStart from the official form: Statutory Durable Power of Attorney. The State Law Library lists the statutory durable power of attorney, in English and Spanish, and the medical power of attorney form. Have a lawyer review it before anyone signs. Open the official form
- RequiredNotarySign in front of a notary, who completes an acknowledgment. The State Law Library says the statutory durable power of attorney form needs a notary.
"A notary is needed."
- Not requiredWitnessesThe list of requirements in Estates Code 751.0021 is a writing, the principal's signature, durable wording and an acknowledgment; witnesses aren't among them.
- Not requiredAgent's acknowledgmentNo signed acceptance is required before acting. An agent accepts by exercising authority or performing duties, unless the power of attorney says otherwise (751.022).
"A person accepts appointment as an agent under a durable power of attorney by exercising authority"
- RequiredRecording for real estateIf the agent will sign a deed or mortgage, record the power of attorney with the county. For a real property transaction that needs a recorded instrument, the power of attorney is recorded with the county clerk where the property is, no later than 30 days after the instrument is filed (751.151).
"must be recorded in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the property is located"
- RequiredDurable after incapacityInclude durable wording if it should keep working after incapacity. A durable power of attorney must contain the statute's durable sentence or words that clearly mean the same (751.0021).
"This power of attorney is not affected by subsequent disability or incapacity of the principal"
Official sources: Powers of Attorney, Commonly Requested Legal Forms (Texas State Law Library) · Medical Power of Attorney Designation of Health Care Agent (Texas Health and Human Services) · H.B. 1974 (2017), enrolled, durable powers of attorney, Estates Code 751 (Texas Legislature)
Print this page to take to the signing.
On the day
The principal signs in front of the notary and any witnesses, after the notary checks ID. If the principal is in a hospital or care home, see notarizing a power of attorney in a hospital; for medical decisions, see signing a healthcare proxy. For every state on one page, see power of attorney requirements by state.
Signing in New Jersey? MCC Solutions provides mobile notarization, hospital notarization and remote online notarization for New Jersey signers. Elsewhere, a local notary can help.
General information, not legal advice; we are not lawyers. Checked November 2026 against the official pages linked in each checklist. Signing rules change, and a power of attorney gives someone real control over money or medical decisions: have a lawyer prepare or review it. A notary identifies the signer and completes the certificate; a notary doesn't draft the document or explain what it does.
Questions about the checklist
Which state's rules apply?
Pick the state whose law the document is made under, usually where the principal lives and signs. When the principal lives in one state and the property or the bank is in another, ask a lawyer which state's form and signing rules to follow.
What do the labels mean?
Required is a stated condition on the official page. Your choice of two means a notary or witnesses will do. Recommended or optional means the law doesn't demand it but it helps in practice. Not confirmed means no official page we opened said, so nothing is guessed.
Can the agent be a witness or the notary?
Where our sources list witness rules, the agent is barred (Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania), and some also bar relatives, heirs or caregivers (Arizona, Illinois, Washington). Pennsylvania and Iowa say the agent can't take the acknowledgment.
Is this a power of attorney form?
No. The checklist tells you how a document is signed, and links the state's official form where one exists. Have a lawyer prepare or review the power of attorney itself.
Does the checklist save what I choose?
No. The page reads your choices from the address bar and builds the list on the server. Nothing is stored, and it works without JavaScript.