A Guide to Our General Power of Attorney

by Kate Mccormick - Solicitor

Our guide to a general power of attorney will outline all the relevant information you need to fill out our downloadable template and provide you with a step by step guide for how to do so.

A Guide to Our General Power of Attorney

This General Power of Attorney is used to appoint an Attorney to act on your behalf in relation to general activities such as personal and/or financial matters on the occurence of certain events such as illness or living abroad.

Clauses in this General Power of Attorney

Between – you need to insert the name and address of the Principal and the Attorney here. The Attorney does not have to be legally qualified but can be a close friend or relative or anyone else that you trust to manage your affairs.

Appointment – this clause is where you will need to set out the exact details of what the Attorney is appointed to do on the Principal’s behalf. You can give them authority to manage all and any of your affairs. Alternatively, you can grant to your Attorney authority to undertake only specific tasks on your behalf, such as renewing your car insurance premium or managing a specific bank account. The more information that your provide here, the easier it will be for the Attorney to know when and how they are to act.

Ratification – this protects the Attorney again legal action by the Principal, provided that the Attorney has acted reasonably in accordance with the powers granted to them.

Validity – this clause states that third parties can rely on the Attorney’s written statement as to the validity of the Power of Attorney.

Indemnity – if the Attorney incurs any liabilities as a result of managing your affairs, this clause enables them to claim such sums back from you, unless they incurred them as a result of their own error.

Law and Jurisdiction – If the Principal is based abroad, you may wish to change the jurisdiction clause to reflect this and/or make it non-exclusive. Where they are based in the UK, the jurisdiction should be exclusively that of England and Wales.

Signature - To be valid, the Power of Attorney must be signed by the Principal and the Attorney in front of an independent Witness, who must also sign the Will. You should insert the name of the Principal, Attorney and Witnesses(es) here and then have the document signed by all these parties.
Once signed in this way, the Power of Attorney becomes a legally binding document that can only be revoked by executing a Revocation of Power of Attorney. The Principal and the Attorney should keep a copy of the signed document and also consider depositing the original with a Solicitor for safekeeping.