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.
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Virginia: financial power of attorney
No step is a stated requirement
- Not requiredStatutory formThe chapter's form (64.2-1639) is an agent's certification, not a power of attorney form. A lawyer can prepare the document.
- Recommended or optionalNotaryNotarizing isn't a condition of validity here, but do it anyway. A signature is presumed genuine if acknowledged before a notary; the section doesn't make notarization a condition of validity. To be recordable it must meet 55.1-600.
"in order to be recordable shall satisfy the requirements of § 55.1-600."
- Not requiredWitnessesThe execution section doesn't mention witnesses.
"signed by the principal"
- Not requiredAgent's acknowledgmentNo signed acceptance is required before acting. An agent accepts by acting or other conduct showing acceptance.
"Unless the power of attorney provides otherwise, a person accepts appointment as an agent by acting"
- Not requiredRecording for real estateThe chapter has no separate real estate recording rule; to be recordable a power of attorney must satisfy 55.1-600. A title company or county recorder may still ask for a recorded copy.
"in order to be recordable shall satisfy the requirements of § 55.1-600."
- Good to knowDurable after incapacityDurable unless it expressly says otherwise.
Official sources: Code of Virginia Title 64.2, Chapter 16, Uniform Power of Attorney Act (Virginia Law) · Uniform Power of Attorney Act, popular name table (Virginia Law) · Va. Code 54.1-2983, Procedure for making advance directive (Virginia Law)
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.