Dallas and Terrell, Texas
A power of attorney is a legal document that lets you name someone you trust to act for you. The person you name is called your agent. You are the principal, which simply means the person giving the permission.
Texas uses two main kinds. A durable power of attorney covers money and property. A medical power of attorney covers health care decisions. They are separate documents with separate signing rules, and one does not do the other’s job.
We are estate planning attorneys based in Dallas and Terrell, and we prepare powers of attorney alongside wills, trusts, and incapacity planning for Texas families. This page walks through how each document works under Texas law, one step at a time.
Start here
Pick one and the page shows you only that path. You can switch or see both at any time.
Texas Estates Code, Chapters 751 and 752. Signed before a notary. Ends at death.
Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 166. Two witnesses or a notary. Agent acts only after a physician certifies incompetence.
The basics
Think of a power of attorney as a permission slip with legal weight. You decide who can act, what they can do, and when they can start.
The word “durable” matters. A durable power of attorney keeps working even if you later become incapacitated, which means unable to manage your own affairs. Texas law requires specific wording in the document to make it durable, such as “This power of attorney is not affected by subsequent disability or incapacity of the principal” (Texas Estates Code Section 751.0021).
A power of attorney is for your lifetime only. A durable power of attorney ends when you die (Section 751.131). After that, your will and, in many cases, the probate process in Texas take over. That is why a power of attorney sits next to a will or trust in an estate plan rather than replacing one. Texas has two kinds of power of attorney, and the financial one comes first.
Financial
Texas law includes a ready-made form called the statutory durable power of attorney (Texas Estates Code Section 752.051). It is a financial document. It lets your agent handle property and money matters for you.
The form lists categories of authority, and you initial each one you want to grant. You can grant all of the listed powers by initialing one line, or pick only the ones you want.
The form is not the only option. Texas law says the statutory form is not exclusive, and other forms of power of attorney may be used (Section 752.003). Many estate plans use a custom document that adds instructions the standard form does not cover.
Some powers have to be written out in plain words before an agent can use them. Under Section 751.031, an agent can only create, change, revoke, or end a living trust, make gifts, create or change survivorship rights, create or change beneficiary designations, or hand off authority to someone else if the document expressly grants that power.
One more detail on homes. The statutory form’s own notice says that if you want your agent to be able to sign home equity loan documents for you, the power of attorney must be signed at the office of the lender, an attorney, or a title company. The next section covers how to sign one so it meets Texas law.
Categories on the form
Four requirements. The fourth is the one people miss.
Signing
Texas Estates Code Section 751.0021 sets out what makes a document a durable power of attorney. In order:
It is in writing, names another person as your agent, and gives that agent authority to act for you.
It is signed by you as an adult. If you cannot sign, another adult can sign your name in your conscious presence, at your direction.
It contains durability wording, meaning language showing the agent’s authority continues if you become disabled or incapacitated.
It is acknowledged before an officer authorized to take acknowledgments and administer oaths. In practice, that is usually a notary public. “Acknowledged” means you confirm to the notary that the signature is yours and you signed it on purpose.
Step four is the one people miss.
A durable power of attorney that was never acknowledged before a notary or other authorized officer does not meet the statute’s definition.
If your agent will sign real estate documents that get recorded, such as a deed or a deed of trust, there is one more step after signing. We cover it in the next section.
Real estate
Most powers of attorney never need to be filed anywhere. You sign, you keep the original somewhere safe, and your agent uses it when needed. Real estate is the exception.
Here is a simple example. Say a Terrell homeowner signs a statutory durable power of attorney naming her son as agent. Later, the family needs to sell her house, and her son signs the deed for her. The deed gets recorded in Kaufman County. Under Section 751.151, the power of attorney must also be recorded with the county clerk of the county where the house sits, no later than the 30th day after the deed is filed.
Recording puts the power of attorney into the public property records, so title companies and future buyers can see the agent had authority to sign. The next question is when your agent can start using the document at all.
Property in Dallas County
Dallas County Clerk’s Recording Division
Records Building, 500 Elm Street, downtown Dallas
Property in Kaufman County, including Terrell
Real property records, 1902 US Highway 175, Kaufman
Timing
You choose. The statutory form says the power of attorney is effective immediately unless you direct otherwise. It then gives two alternatives:
Alternative A
The power of attorney is not affected by your later disability or incapacity. It works now and keeps working.
Alternative B
The power of attorney becomes effective only on your disability or incapacity. This is often called a “springing” power of attorney, because it springs into effect later.
If you do not cross out either one, the form treats you as choosing Alternative A.
With a springing power of attorney, someone has to show you are incapacitated before the agent can act. Unless the document defines incapacity another way, Section 751.00201 says you are considered incapacitated when a physician certifies in writing, after examining you, that you are mentally incapable of managing your financial affairs. Health care decisions run under a different law, and we turn to that next.
Health care
A medical power of attorney names an agent to make health care decisions for you when you cannot make them yourself. It comes from a different law, Chapter 166 of the Texas Health and Safety Code.
Your agent can make any health care decision you could make if you were competent, subject to any limits you write into the document (Section 166.152). Your agent can only step in after your attending physician certifies in writing, and files in your medical record, that you are incompetent, meaning not able to make your own health care decisions.
Some people cannot act as your medical agent while they are your health care provider or residential care provider, such as a nursing facility. Employees of those providers also cannot act as your agent, unless they are your relative (Section 166.153).
A medical power of attorney is different from a Directive to Physicians, sometimes called a living will. The directive states your own wishes about life-sustaining treatment. The medical power of attorney names the person who speaks for you. Many families also sign a HIPAA authorization, a form that lets doctors share your medical information with the people you choose. Our article on essential legal documents for incapacity planning explains how these documents fit together. Signing a medical power of attorney works differently from the financial one, and there are two ways to do it.
Protections built into the law
Signing
Section 166.154 gives you two ways to sign.
Two witnesses
You sign in front of two witnesses, and they sign too. Each witness must be a competent adult. At least one of them must not be any of the following (Section 166.003):
A notary
Instead of signing in front of witnesses, you sign and have your signature acknowledged before a notary public.
If you are physically unable to sign, another person can sign your name for you, in your presence and at your express direction. Texas also allows qualifying digital or electronic signatures on these documents (Section 166.011).
The person you name matters more than the paperwork.
Who you name
The person you name matters more than the paperwork. An agent under a durable power of attorney who accepts the job becomes a fiduciary, a legal role that carries duties, including keeping you informed and accounting for what they do (Section 751.101).
Naming a backup matters too. The statutory form lets you name successor agents, meaning people who step in, in order, if your first choice dies, becomes incapacitated, resigns, or refuses to act. If no one is named to take over, the power of attorney ends when your agent can no longer serve (Section 751.131). We wrote about this gap in our article on choosing between a power of attorney and a living trust.
You can also name co-agents, two or more people at once. Under the statutory form, co-agents can act independently unless you choose to require them to act together or by majority.
Divorce changes things. Unless the document says otherwise, a divorce or annulment ends your former spouse’s authority as your agent under a durable power of attorney (Section 751.132) and under a medical power of attorney (Section 166.155). The next section covers the other ways a power of attorney ends.
Ending
A durable power of attorney ends when any of these happens (Section 751.131):
A medical power of attorney works differently. You can revoke it by telling your agent or a licensed health or residential care provider, orally or in writing, or by any other act that shows you mean to revoke it, regardless of your mental state at the time. Signing a new medical power of attorney also revokes the old one (Section 166.155).
If someone becomes unable to manage their affairs with no power of attorney in place, family members may need to ask a court to appoint a guardian, a person the court authorizes to make decisions for them. Guardianship is a court-supervised process with ongoing reporting. A power of attorney signed while you are able is one way families plan around that.
Your attorney
Board Certified, Estate Planning and Probate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization. U.S. Marine Corps veteran. SMU law graduate. Offices in Dallas and Terrell.
We prepare durable powers of attorney, medical powers of attorney, wills, and trusts for Texas families, and we explain every document before you sign it.
FAQ
For a durable power of attorney covering finances, yes. Section 751.0021 requires it to be acknowledged before a notary or another officer authorized to take acknowledgments and administer oaths. For a medical power of attorney, you can either sign in front of two qualified witnesses or have your signature acknowledged before a notary.
No. The statutory durable power of attorney form states that it does not authorize anyone to make medical and other health care decisions for you. Health care decisions come from a separate medical power of attorney under Chapter 166 of the Health and Safety Code.
No. A durable power of attorney ends when the principal dies. After death, authority over the estate passes through the will, a trust, or the probate court, not the agent.
Texas law treats a document as a durable power of attorney if the law of the other state that governs it says the agent’s authority continues after the principal’s incapacity (Section 751.0021(b)). Whether a specific out-of-state document works for a specific task depends on its wording. If you have moved to Texas, it is worth having your documents reviewed.
Texas law does not require a lawyer to prepare a power of attorney, and the statutory form is available to anyone. The form’s own notice says its powers are broad and sweeping, and it tells readers with questions about those powers to obtain competent legal advice.
Texas law does not set an expiration date for a durable power of attorney unless the document includes one (Section 751.132). People often revisit theirs after a marriage, divorce, move, death of an agent, or a change in health. If yours is older, our wills and trusts attorney page is a good place to start.
If you found this useful, you might also like our article on whether wills need to be notarized in Texas, which covers the signing rules for wills.
We are estate planning attorneys based in Dallas and Terrell. We prepare durable powers of attorney, medical powers of attorney, wills, and trusts for Texas families, and we explain every document before you sign it.
If you want to talk through your options, book a free consultation and we will meet with you at our Dallas or Terrell office.
Attorney advertising. This page is general information about Texas law, not legal advice for your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws in other states differ, and the right documents depend on your circumstances.
