Posted by 200mott on 3/3/09 6:49am
Msg #279277

Power of Attorney

Can anyone please tell me if a power of attorney form can be notatized without the actual person being there and ubder what statue and where do I find the law stating what is the correct method.....

Reply by MistarellaFL on 3/3/09 6:54am
Msg #279279

No no no no no no no no

The signer must appear before you, as with any other Florida notarization.

Reply by PAW on 3/3/09 8:13am
Msg #279286

The PRINCIPAL, the person giving the power to another, must be present and sign in your presence to properly execute the POA. The ATTORNEY-IN-FACT, the one getting the power to act on behalf of the principal, typically does not need to be present, nor do they typically have to sign the POA.

Florida Statutes 117.05(3)(c) states, "That the signer personally appeared before the notary public at the time of notarization."

There is no exception to the "presence" rule. This subject, and the actual statutes for notaries, is available in the Florida Governor's Reference Manual for Notaries (ed 2001) which you should have in your possession and be thorough familiar with its contents. If you need a copy, you can download a PDF version from http://pawnotary.com/download/Florida_Manual.pdf

Reply by sue_pa on 3/3/09 9:48am
Msg #279299

know your own state's laws

this is a thread from FL with appropriate FL responses.

In PA, both the one granting the power and the one receiving the power sign the POA although the principal is the only one having their signature notarized.

Reply by PAW on 3/3/09 10:02am
Msg #279304

Re: know your own state's laws

Sue, correct me if I'm wrong, but the "agent" doesn't sign the actual POA, but does sign an "Acknowledgment of Execution by the Agent". Of course, for simplicity, the agent's acknowledgment may be an addendum to and printed on the POA itself. Many attorneys do include the agent acknowledgment with the POA, but the AIF (aka agent) does not need to sign in the presence of the notary, nor at the same time as the principal.

Reply by Todd/OH on 3/3/09 4:44pm
Msg #279369

Why would you wanna do that ??

Why would you place your notary commission at risk? Even if my state didn't require it, I would need to see them sign it.

Reply by Maureen_nh on 3/3/09 7:14pm
Msg #279385

I am wondering if what you meant to say was does the principal have to be there when someone signs as attorney in fact for them. The answer to that is no.
As to whether or not you have to see the document that grants POA I think that might vary from state to state.

Otherwise, the others have answered your question.
Someone had a link a few days ago to a site that contained approved methods of signing as Attorney for the different states.