A durable power of attorney lets someone you trust — your agent — handle financial and legal matters for you, and keeps working if you later become incapacitated. Texas publishes the exact form in Estates Code § 752.051, and banks recognize it on sight. Here is how the form works, section by section, and the execution rules from § 751.0021 that make it enforceable.
You grant powers by initialing them — by hand
The heart of the form is a list of fifteen subjects, (A) through (O): real property, banking, business operations, retirement plans, tax matters, digital assets, and more. You grant a power by initialing the line in front of it; a line you leave blank grants nothing.
Line (O) grants everything in (A) through (N) with one initial. Most people either initial (O) or a short, deliberate list. Initial by hand at signing — institutions distrust machine-marked grant lines, which is why our document prints the lines blank and tells you, in the attached instructions, exactly which lines match the answers you gave.
Effective immediately, and durable
The statutory form is effective immediately unless you choose otherwise. It presents two alternatives: (A) the power of attorney is not affected by your later disability or incapacity — effective now, durable; or (B) it becomes effective only upon your disability or incapacity — the so-called springing version.
You choose by crossing out the alternative you do not want, and if neither is crossed out, the form itself says alternative (A) applies. For most people (A) is the practical choice: springing powers force your agent to prove your incapacity to every bank before they can act, usually with a physician's written certification, at exactly the moment speed matters.
The signing rules: notary, no witnesses
Under Estates Code § 751.0021, a Texas durable power of attorney must be signed by an adult principal (or by another adult at your direction, in your conscious presence) and acknowledged before a notary. No witnesses are required for this financial document — a common point of confusion with the medical power of attorney, which uses witnesses or a notary.
One special rule is printed in the form's NOTICE in capital letters: if you want your agent to be able to sign home-equity loan documents for you, the power of attorney itself must be signed at the office of the lender, an attorney at law, or a title company. Sign it at your kitchen table and every other power still works — but not that one.
Compensation, co-agents, and gifts
The form's special-instructions section handles three choices by the same initial-a-line mechanism:
- Compensation — initial one line to give your agent reasonable compensation plus expenses, or expenses only with no compensation. If you initial neither, the statute's default is reasonable compensation.
- Co-agents — only relevant if you appoint more than one agent; the lines choose independent action, joint action, or majority rule. Unselected, each co-agent may act independently.
- Gifts — a single line that, if initialed, lets your agent give away your property up to the federal annual gift-tax exclusion per recipient. Do not initial it casually: gift authority is the most abused power in the form. Leave it blank unless a Texas attorney has told you why you need it.
Your agent's duties are not honorary
The form ends with a statutorily required section addressed to your agent. Accepting the appointment creates a fiduciary relationship: the agent must act in good faith, stay within the granted authority, act loyally for your benefit, avoid conflicts, and disclose their agent status when signing for you.
The Durable Power of Attorney Act also requires the agent to keep records of every action and, on your request, render a full accounting — receipts, disbursements, property under their control, balances, and liabilities. An agent who violates the Act can be liable for damages or prosecuted for misapplication of fiduciary property.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Texas power of attorney need witnesses?
No — it needs notarization. The financial power of attorney is acknowledged before a notary with no witnesses; the medical power of attorney is the one that offers a two-witness alternative.
Does this let my agent make medical decisions?
No. The form says so in its own NOTICE: it does not authorize anyone to make medical or health-care decisions for you. That requires a separate Medical Power of Attorney.
When does it end?
At your death, when you revoke it, when a stated termination event occurs, generally on divorce if your agent is your spouse, or if a court appoints a permanent guardian of your estate. Third parties can rely on it until they have actual knowledge it ended.
Can I name a backup agent?
Yes — the statutory form names successors who act alone and in order if your agent dies, becomes incapacitated, resigns, refuses, or is removed. Naming at least one successor keeps the document useful for decades.