Signing Over Authority
ORS 127.005 and ORS 127.015 — effective when signed, it survives incapacity unless it says otherwise
When a principal names someone as agent in a written power of attorney, and the document has no words delaying or limiting when it takes effect, it is effective when executed. It stays in effect until the principal revokes it, its own terms end it, or every agent's authority ends, and the agent's powers are unaffected by the passage of time.
It survives incapacity unless it says otherwise. The agent may go on acting for the principal even after the principal becomes financially incapable, and what the agent does in that period binds the principal as though the principal were not.
A power of attorney may instead be written to take effect at a future time, or on a future event such as the principal becoming financially incapable, and may name who decides whether that has happened. If it names no one, or no one named is willing or able, any physician may make the determination, in writing.
- The principal dies.
- The principal or a court revokes it.
- The agent dies, becomes financially incapable or incapacitated, or resigns.
- Its own terms end it.
- An action is filed to dissolve or annul the principal's marriage or registered domestic partnership to the agent, or to separate them, unless the document, an agreement or a court provides otherwise.
Those events end the agent's authority. An agent who acts in good faith without actual knowledge of the death or other event still binds the principal and the principal's heirs and estate. Unless the document provides otherwise, the agent has to use the principal's property for the principal's benefit.
If a court appoints a conservator for the principal, the agent accounts to the conservator, who may revoke or suspend the power. Health care decisions are made under a separate set of sections and are not on this page. Drafting, limiting or challenging a power of attorney is a matter for a licensed Oregon attorney.
Sources for this section (3)
- ORS 127.005 — When power of attorney in effect
- ORS 127.015 — Revocation of power of attorney
- ORS 127.045 — Duty of agent under power of attorney
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Oregon attorney.