Michigan Durable Power of Attorney
Michigan durable power of attorney: sign, then notarize or use two witnesses under MCL 556.205. Durable by default (MCL 556.204); the agent cannot witness.
Introduction
A durable power of attorney is a written authorization that hands financial, property, and business decisions to a person you trust, so someone can act in your place. In Michigan that person is your agent, sometimes called an attorney-in-fact. What makes the document durable is straightforward: the authority does not lapse if you later lose the ability to decide for yourself, and that staying power is normally the entire reason people sign one. Michigan reset these rules on July 1, 2024, when the Uniform Power of Attorney Act (2023 PA 187, MCL 556.201 et seq.) took effect and replaced the durable-POA provisions that used to sit in the Estates and Protected Individuals Code. Execution is a choice of routes: MCL 556.205 calls for your signature, and for durability you either acknowledge the document before a notary public or sign it in front of two witnesses who each sign as well. The person you appoint as agent is not allowed to witness, though one witness may double as the notary. Durability is now the presumption rather than something you opt into. Under MCL 556.204 the document is treated as durable unless you write in that it ends at your incapacity, the reverse of Michigan's older law. The new act also made the agent's certification optional under MCL 556.402, dropping the mandatory agent acknowledgment the prior durable-POA law imposed, and it fixes an agent's fiduciary duties at the moment the agent accepts the role under MCL 556.214. This guide addresses the financial and general durable power of attorney only. Health-care authority runs through a separate Michigan document, the patient advocate designation. Attorney review is available as an option before you sign.
Key Things to Know
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A durable power of attorney puts someone else in charge of your finances on your behalf. You name an agent, also called an attorney-in-fact, to handle your money, property, and business affairs. The word durable means the arrangement holds up even after you can no longer make decisions for yourself, which is normally the point of setting one up.
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Michigan overhauled its power of attorney law in 2024. The Uniform Power of Attorney Act (2023 PA 187, MCL 556.201 et seq.) took effect July 1, 2024 and replaced the durable-POA provisions of the Estates and Protected Individuals Code. Any financial power of attorney you sign now runs under the new act, so older form language may no longer match the current rules.
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Durability comes built in. You no longer have to add special language to keep a power of attorney alive through incapacity. Under MCL 556.204, a document executed under the act's signing rules stays in force after you lose capacity unless it says on its face that it ends there. That flips Michigan's earlier approach, which made you spell durability out.
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You pick one of two signing paths. MCL 556.205 requires your signature and then gives you a choice for making the document durable: acknowledge it before a notary public, or sign it in front of two witnesses who each sign too. Either route works on its own, and notarizing also gives your signature a presumption of genuineness.
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Keep your agent out of the witnessing. Under MCL 556.205 the person you name as agent cannot be one of your witnesses, though one of the two witnesses is allowed to also act as the notary. If someone else signs the document for you at your direction, it must be witnessed by two people no matter what.
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The old mandatory agent acknowledgment is gone. Michigan once required a signed agent acknowledgment before an agent could act; under MCL 556.402 the agent's certification is now optional. If you want a ready-made starting point, Michigan publishes an optional statutory form power of attorney at MCL 556.401 that carries the meaning and effect the act prescribes.
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High-risk powers have to be written in. Under MCL 556.301, your agent can create, amend, revoke, or terminate a trust, make a gift, change rights of survivorship or a beneficiary designation, or delegate authority only where the document expressly grants each of those powers. Leave them out and the agent simply cannot take those steps.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Durable Power of Attorney in Michigan, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Durable Power of Attorney guide walks through them.
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Michigan Requirements for Durable Power of Attorney
Under MCL 556.205, a Michigan power of attorney must be signed by you, or by another person in your conscious presence at your direction. To be durable, a power you sign must either be acknowledged before a notary public or signed in the presence of two witnesses who both also sign. The two methods are alternatives.
Under MCL 556.205, a witness may not be the agent named in the power of attorney, and one of the two witnesses may also serve as the notary public. A power of attorney signed by a directed third party must be witnessed by two witnesses regardless of acknowledgment.
Michigan makes a power of attorney durable by default. Under MCL 556.204, a power of attorney executed under the act's signing rules is durable unless it expressly provides that it terminates on the principal's incapacity. If you want the authority to end at incapacity instead, the document must say so.
A Michigan power of attorney is effective when executed unless you make it springing. Under MCL 556.209, you may provide that it becomes effective at a specified future date or on the occurrence of a specified future event, such as your incapacity, and you define that triggering event in the document.
You may use Michigan's optional statutory form power of attorney at MCL 556.401, which may be used to create a power of attorney that has the meaning and effect prescribed by the Uniform Power of Attorney Act. The agent's separate certification is optional under MCL 556.402.
The Uniform Power of Attorney Act does not require recording for a financial power of attorney to be valid. Recording becomes relevant only when your agent uses the power of attorney in a recorded real-estate transaction, in which case it is filed with the county register of deeds where the property is located.
Certain high-risk powers are allowed only if your document specifically grants them. Under MCL 556.301, your agent may create, amend, revoke, or terminate an inter vivos trust, make a gift, create or change rights of survivorship, change a beneficiary designation, or delegate authority only when the power of attorney expressly says so.
Under MCL 556.210, a power of attorney terminates when the principal revokes it, and an agent's authority ends when the principal revokes that authority. A termination is not effective against a person who acts in good faith without actual knowledge of it, so give notice to anyone holding the document.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is a written document in which you authorize an agent, also called an attorney-in-fact, to handle your financial and property affairs for you. The durable label signals that the authority carries through your later incapacity instead of ending the moment you can no longer make decisions. In Michigan, the Uniform Power of Attorney Act at MCL 556.204 makes a power of attorney durable by default, so you do not have to add durability wording to get that result.
Everything turns on what happens once you lose capacity. A durable power of attorney keeps operating after that point; a regular, nondurable one shuts off. Michigan flips the usual expectation here: under MCL 556.204 a power of attorney is presumed durable, so it outlasts your incapacity unless the document itself states that it should stop. If you actually want a nondurable version, you have to write that limit into the document.
Yes. MCL 556.204 provides that a power of attorney executed under the Uniform Power of Attorney Act's signing rules is durable unless it expressly says it terminates when the principal becomes incapacitated. That is the opposite of Michigan's pre-2024 law, which made you include durability language to reach the same result. To have the authority stop at incapacity now, you must put that limit in writing.
Not always. MCL 556.205 sets out two ways to make the document durable, and notarizing is only one of them: you can acknowledge it before a notary public, or you can instead sign it in front of two witnesses who each also sign. Either method satisfies the requirement on its own. One practical edge to the notary route is that acknowledging before a notary gives your signature a presumption of genuineness under MCL 556.205.
Yes. On July 1, 2024, the Uniform Power of Attorney Act (2023 PA 187, MCL 556.201 et seq.) took effect and replaced the durable-POA provisions that had lived in the Estates and Protected Individuals Code. Two changes stand out: powers of attorney are now durable by default under MCL 556.204, and the agent's certification is optional under MCL 556.402 rather than the mandatory agent acknowledgment the earlier law required. Documents drafted before the change should be reviewed against the new act.
An agent acts as a fiduciary. Under MCL 556.214, once an agent accepts appointment the agent must act within the authority actually granted, in good faith, in line with the principal's reasonable expectations and otherwise in the principal's best interest, and must keep reasonable records of the transactions handled. Unless the document says otherwise, the agent also has to act loyally and steer clear of conflicts of interest. These duties attach at acceptance, not at signing.
The Uniform Power of Attorney Act does not require a financial power of attorney to be recorded for it to be valid or for the agent to act, so most powers of attorney are never recorded. Recording matters only as a title step: when your agent uses the power of attorney in a recorded real-estate transaction, the document is recorded with the county register of deeds for the county where the property sits, alongside the deed or mortgage.
MCL 556.210 provides that a power of attorney ends when the principal revokes it, and an agent's authority ends when the principal revokes that authority. The act does not lock you into one required revocation form. The catch is notice: a revocation does not bind someone who, without actual knowledge of it, acts in good faith in reliance on the power of attorney, so tell your agent and anyone holding a copy, in writing, that it is revoked.