Make your Free Texas Power of Attorney

A Texas Power of Attorney (PoA) is a legal document that grants a person or organization the authority to manage legal and financial affairs on your behalf, such as selling your property, accessing bank accounts, and signing contracts.

The person granting control is known as the "principal," while the individual or organization receiving powers is known as the "agent" or "attorney-in-fact." Suited for residents of Texas, our Power of Attorney is made for use in Tarrant County, Harris County, Dallas County, and in all other counties and municipalities throughout the state. All Texas Power of Attorney forms from Rocket Lawyer can be personalized to address your unique situation. As a result of having this essential legal document, your representative can offer confirmation to financial institutions and other parties that they can act in your interest.

It is very simple to give or get the authority you may need using a free Texas Power of Attorney template from Rocket Lawyer:

1. Make your document - Answer a few simple questions and we will do the rest
2. Send or share it - Discuss it with your agent or ask a legal question
3. Sign it and make it legal - Optional or not, notarization/witnesses are encouraged

This solution will often be notably less time-consuming than hiring the average provider. If necessary, you may prepare a PoA on behalf of a relative, and then have them sign it when ready. Please keep in mind that for this document to be considered legally valid, the principal must be mentally competent when they sign. In the event that the principal has already been declared incompetent, a conservatorship may be required. When managing this scenario, it would be best to speak with a lawyer.

Every person over 18 should have a Power of Attorney. Though it may be painful to acknowledge, there will likely come a time when you aren't able to deal with your day-to-day affairs on your own. There may also be moments when you are simply out of pocket. Common occasions where you may consider power of attorney to be helpful include:

• You are getting older or dealing with ongoing health issues or limited mobility
• You are preparing to travel or live overseas either temporarily or permanently
• You wish to authorize a trusted person to act on your behalf if you become legally incompetent or incapacitated
• You currently live in a residential care facility and need help managing financial affairs

Regardless of whether this Texas Power of Attorney has been generated as part of a long-term plan or created in response to an emergency, notarization and/or witnesses can help to protect your document if someone doubts its authority.

There are a few ways to categorize PoA documents. They are largely dependent on how long the powers are valid, when they come into effect, and what they will grant authority over. Often, you will see them organized into these four groups:

• Springing Power of Attorney - Will come into effect based on certain guidelines
• Durable Power of Attorney - Will remain in effect even if you become mentally incompetent or incapacitated
• Special Power of Attorney - Will grant a limited scope of powers over specific affairs
• General Power of Attorney - Will grant broad powers over your affairs

When making your free Texas Power of Attorney, you can opt to have the agent's authority start upon signing, on a precise day, or only at the point when you're not capable. Your Power of Attorney may terminate either on a specific date or when you pass away.

Texas Power of Attorney forms are normally easy to make, but you or your agent(s) could still need advice. Depending on whom you reach out to, some attorneys won't even accept requests to review a document if they didn't work on it. A better approach might be through Rocket Lawyer On Call^® network of attorneys. By becoming a Premium member, you will be able to request guidance from an On Call attorney with relevant experience or get answers to additional legal questions related to your Power of Attorney. As always, Rocket Lawyer is here to support you.

The cost of hiring a legal provider to write a Power of Attorney can add up to between $200 and $500. Rocket Lawyer can offer much more protection than most other Power of Attorney template providers that you may find elsewhere. As a Rocket Lawyer member, you can get up to a 40% discount when hiring an attorney from our network.

With a Rocket Lawyer membership, you will be able to make edits, save it as a Word or PDF document, and print it out. When you are ready to finalize your Power of Attorney, it should be signed. Your agent(s) and financial institutions should get copies of your fully executed document.

The laws governing PoA forms will vary in each state; however, in Texas, if the agent will have responsibilities related to real estate, or if you would like their authority to persist even if/when you are incapacitated, then your PoA form will need to be notarized. Two witnesses are required if the agent's duties will involve making decisions for or about a child. If your agent will have the authority to manage real estate transactions, the Power of Attorney will need to be acknowledged by a notary and filed or recorded with the county. As a basic principle, witnesses should not be under the age of 18, and none of them should also be designated as your agent.

See Texas Power of Attorney law: Estates Code, Title 2, Ch. 751