Georgia Durable Power of Attorney
A Georgia durable power of attorney must be signed, attested by one witness, and notarized under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-5. It is durable by default in Georgia.
Introduction
A durable power of attorney is a written authorization that puts someone you trust in charge of your money, property, and business affairs during any period when you cannot manage them yourself. Georgia calls that person your agent, sometimes an attorney-in-fact. What makes the document durable is its staying power: the authority you hand over does not lapse if illness or injury later leaves you unable to decide for yourself, and that continuity is usually the entire reason for signing one. Georgia governs these documents through the Georgia Power of Attorney Act, the state's version of the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, codified at O.C.G.A. 10-6B-1 and running through the rest of Chapter 6B, in force since July 1, 2017. The signing formalities here go beyond a simple notarization: O.C.G.A. 10-6B-5 calls for your signature (or that of another adult who signs for you, in your presence, at your request), the attestation of one competent witness who is not your agent, and the attestation of a second individual under O.C.G.A. 44-2-15, a role a notary public satisfies. Count the signers: you, a witness, and a notary, three separate people. Durability in Georgia is automatic rather than something you opt into. Under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-4 the document carries through your incapacity unless you deliberately write that it should end there. If you prefer a ready-made template, Georgia supplies a statutory form at O.C.G.A. 10-6B-70, and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs posts the official fillable version. This guide addresses the financial and general durable power of attorney only; authorizing someone to make medical decisions takes a separate Georgia health-care instrument. An attorney review of your document is available as an option before you sign.
Key Things to Know
- 1
A durable power of attorney hands financial control to someone you choose. That person, your agent or attorney-in-fact, can act on your money, property, and business dealings for you. The durable part means the arrangement holds up even after you lose the ability to make your own decisions, which is normally the reason for creating one.
- 2
Georgia treats durability as the standard setting, not an add-on. Under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-4 your agent's authority carries through any later incapacity on its own, with no special wording required. The only time you insert durability language is when you want the opposite, a document that switches off the moment you become incapacitated.
- 3
Signing involves three people, not just a notary. O.C.G.A. 10-6B-5 asks for your signature (or that of an adult who signs at your direction while you watch), the attestation of one competent witness who is not your agent, and the attestation of a separate individual under O.C.G.A. 44-2-15 such as a notary public.
- 4
The witness and the notary cannot be one and the same. O.C.G.A. 10-6B-5 keeps those two attestation roles distinct, and it bars anyone named as your agent from serving in either seat.
- 5
Georgia gives you a fill-in statutory form. O.C.G.A. 10-6B-70 lays out a form you may copy, and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs publishes the official fillable version online. It reaches financial and property matters only and grants no authority over health-care decisions.
- 6
A short list of powers exists only if you spell them out. O.C.G.A. 10-6B-40 withholds authority to make gifts, to create or undo a trust, to alter survivorship or beneficiary designations, to hand the job to someone else, or to disclaim property unless your document expressly grants each one.
- 7
Putting it to work on real estate can send it to the courthouse. Georgia does not order the power of attorney recorded on its own, but a deed an agent signs must be attested under O.C.G.A. 44-2-15, and in practice the county has the power of attorney filed with the clerk of superior court where the land sits.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Durable Power of Attorney in Georgia, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Durable Power of Attorney guide walks through them.
Open the Durable Power of Attorney guideCustomize your Durable Power of Attorney Template with DocDraft
Georgia Requirements for Durable Power of Attorney
Under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-5, the power of attorney must be signed by you (or by another adult in your presence at your express direction), attested by one competent witness who is not named as an agent, and attested by a separate individual under O.C.G.A. 44-2-15, such as a notary public. So three different people sign: you, one witness, and a notary.
The one witness and the notary are two separate roles under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-5, and they may not be the same person. Neither the witness nor the notary may be named as an agent in the document. This is the financial power-of-attorney rule, not a health-care-directive rule.
Georgia makes a power of attorney durable by default. Under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-4 the document survives your incapacity unless it expressly provides that it terminates when you become incapacitated. You add language to make it non-durable, not to keep it durable.
Under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-9 a Georgia power of attorney is effective when executed unless you provide that it becomes effective on a future date or event. If it springs on your incapacity and no one is named to determine it, a physician or licensed psychologist must certify the incapacity in writing.
You may use Georgia's statutory form power of attorney at O.C.G.A. 10-6B-70. The Georgia Department of Community Affairs hosts the official fillable version. It covers financial and property matters only and does not authorize health-care decisions.
Georgia does not impose a freestanding statewide rule that the power of attorney itself be recorded. When an agent uses it to execute a deed or other recordable instrument, that instrument must be attested by an officer under O.C.G.A. 44-2-15, and county practice generally records the power of attorney with the clerk of superior court in the county where the land lies.
Certain high-risk powers, sometimes called express-grant powers, are allowed only if your document specifically grants them. Under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-40 your agent may create, fund, amend, or revoke a trust, make a gift, change rights of survivorship or beneficiary designations, delegate authority, or disclaim property only when the document expressly says so.
Under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-10 a Georgia power of attorney terminates when you revoke it or revoke the agent's authority, among other events such as your death. If the power of attorney was recorded, record the revocation too so it gives notice.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is a written document naming an agent, also called an attorney-in-fact, to look after your finances and property. The label durable signals staying power: under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-4 the authority you grant outlasts a later loss of capacity instead of dissolving the moment you can no longer decide for yourself. In Georgia that durability comes built in, with no extra clause needed.
It comes down to what incapacity does to the document. A durable version keeps running after you lose the ability to make decisions; a plain, non-durable one shuts off at that point. Georgia inverts the usual arrangement: under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-4 every power of attorney is durable from the start and stays that way unless you specifically write that incapacity ends it.
A springing power of attorney holds off until a chosen date or event arrives rather than working the instant you sign. Under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-9 a Georgia power of attorney is live from execution unless you write that it starts later. When it is set to spring on your incapacity and you named no one to declare that incapacity, it switches on once a physician or licensed psychologist certifies in writing that you can no longer receive or weigh information or make and communicate decisions.
Yes. When Georgia adopted its Power of Attorney Act, effective July 1, 2017, it included a statutory form at O.C.G.A. 10-6B-70 that you may copy. The Georgia Department of Community Affairs hosts the official fillable version, whose preamble cites Chapter 6B of Title 10 and confirms the form is durable and effective immediately unless you state otherwise. The form covers financial and property matters and does not reach health-care choices, which need a separate Georgia advance directive.
O.C.G.A. 10-6B-40 lets an agent take certain steps only when the document specifically hands over that authority. These express-grant powers cover creating, funding, amending, or revoking a trust, making a gift, setting up or changing rights of survivorship, switching a beneficiary designation, passing authority to another person, and disclaiming an interest in property. Leave the language out and the agent simply cannot do them.
Georgia's Power of Attorney Act sets no blanket statewide requirement to record the power of attorney by itself. Once an agent uses it to sign a deed or another recordable instrument affecting real property, that instrument has to be attested by an officer named in O.C.G.A. 44-2-15, which includes a judge, a magistrate, a notary public, or a clerk of superior court. In everyday county practice the power of attorney is then filed alongside the deed with the clerk of superior court in the county where the land lies.
No. A health-care power of attorney in Georgia is a separate instrument governed by the Georgia advance directive for health care under Title 31, Chapter 32 of the Code, with its own execution rules. The financial power of attorney described in this guide does not authorize health-care decisions, and the O.C.G.A. 10-6B-70 statutory form is for financial and property matters only.
No. A power of attorney can only be signed by a principal who still has the capacity to understand and authorize it. If your parent is already incapacitated and cannot knowingly sign, a power of attorney is not available. Instead, the family must petition the probate court for a guardianship or conservatorship. Consider speaking with the probate court in the county where your parent lives about that process.