Signing Over Authority
ORC 1337.60 — a power of attorney starts working the day it is signed
Two things about an Ohio power of attorney run opposite to what almost everybody signing one assumes. Both are defaults in the statute, both can be changed by writing something different into the document, and neither changes itself.
Who handles this in Ohio: legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
It is live the day it is signed, not the day something goes wrong. The statutory form says in its own words that it is effective immediately unless stated otherwise in the special instructions. People sign one thinking of it as a document that sits in a drawer until they cannot act for themselves. Unless the special instructions say so, there is no waiting. An agent named this morning can act this afternoon, while the person who signed is perfectly well and at work.
It is durable by default, which is the other way round from what people expect. A power of attorney under this chapter is durable unless it expressly provides that it is terminated by the incapacity of the principal. There is no magic wording to add to make it survive. The wording has to be added to stop it surviving, and a document that says nothing about incapacity keeps working through one.
| The assumption | What the chapter actually does |
|---|---|
| The assumptionIt kicks in if I lose capacity | What the chapter actually doesEffective immediately unless the special instructions say otherwise |
| The assumptionI have to make it durable | What the chapter actually doesDurable already, unless it says it ends on incapacity |
| The assumptionIt has to be witnessed | What the chapter actually doesA financial power of attorney needs the principal's signature; witnesses are not required by the execution section |
| The assumptionA notary makes it valid | What the chapter actually doesAn acknowledgment before a notary makes the signature presumed genuine, which is why banks ask for it |
The signature itself can be the principal's own, or made by another person in the principal's conscious presence and at the principal's direction, which is the provision that covers somebody who cannot hold a pen.
An agent is not free to do as they like with it. The chapter puts duties on the agent rather than leaving it to family understanding. Acting in good faith, staying inside the authority actually granted, and acting according to the principal's known expectations or otherwise in the principal's best interest. Using the document for the agent's own benefit is not within it, whatever the document appears to permit on its face.
A health care power of attorney is a different document under different rules, and the execution requirements are not the same: that one needs either notarization or two adult witnesses. A financial power of attorney does not cover health care decisions and a health care one does not cover money.
“Does this document say anything about when the authority begins.”
Revocation, naming a successor agent, gifting authority, and the powers that have to be granted expressly rather than generally each run under their own sections and are not on this page. A bank or a title company may still refuse a document it is uncomfortable with, and there are sections about that too. Drafting one, limiting one, revoking one, or dealing with an agent who has misused one are matters for a licensed Ohio attorney, and legal aid and senior legal services offices across the state advise on powers of attorney.
Sources for this section (4)
- ORC 1337.60 — The statutory form, and when the authority in it begins
- ORC 1337.24 — When a power of attorney is durable, and what it takes to make it otherwise
- ORC 1337.34 — What an agent under a power of attorney owes the person who signed it
- ORC 1337.25 — Executing a power of attorney, and the acknowledgment that presumes a signature genuine
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.