Power of Attorney - POA

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Simply put, a power of attorney is a document that gives another person (the agent) legal authority to represent you and act on your behalf.

There are many reasons to need a POA - some of them are:

• Health decisions that you wish to be carried out should you not be able to make decisions for yourself 
• When you are not able to be present to sign documents that need a 'wet' signature, such as a real estate transaction
• You are a parent leaving your minor child in care of someone in your absence 
• You want to assign a person to take care of your personal financial or business financial matters in your absence

In most states, for a POA to be official, it will need to be Notarized by a Notary Public. A Notary will be present to witness signing of the document(s) and to verify identity of the signers. Once it has been properly notarized, it is then and official document.

Witnesses aren't always required - you will have to check your particular POA to see if witnesses are necessary for your document. If you need to have witnesses, the best type of person to be a witness is someone not related to anyone mentioned in the document. The best witnesses are a family friend, neighbor or co-worker. 

A Notary Public will be present during the signing of the document to verified it was signed by the correct people and that those signers have been properly identified by verifying their Drivers License, State issued ID, or Passport. Once this has been done, the Notary's stamp and signature on your document makes it complete. NOTE: an Notary is NOT an Attorney and therefore can not give legal advice or opinion on your document.

1. Once you have your Power of Attorney document(s) (durable Power of Attorney, healthcare directive Power of Attorney, general Power of Attorney, financial Power of Attorney) you will need to review it to see if you need witnesses 
2. Find your witnesses and be sure they have a valid drivers license, ID, or passport as the Notary will need to see that to verify their identity 
3. Find out when - day/time your witnesses are available to be present with the parties mentioned in the POA 
4. Contact a Notary - it's easiest to find a Mobile Notary that will travel to your location so that everyone can meet in one place, at your home, office, nursing home, hospital, etc. 
5. Set up the Mobile Notary appointment
6. On appointment day, have your document(s) ready to be signed by everyone, make sure all parties are present, including witnesses if needed, along with their valid ID, Drivers License or Passport
7. When the Notary arrives, they will review and record each persons Identification, witness them all signing the documents, the Notary will then Notarize - stamp and sign the documents and finally have each person sign their Notary Journal to record the presence of every signer
8. Your document is now official and Notarized

If a valid identification is present for one reason or another - expired, lost, not available - a Notary can verify a person by having other people witness their identity. If your document requires witnesses and they also know the signer personally, they can then also be considered a creditable witness for the person that does not have a valid identification.