Texas Power of Attorney: The Statutory Durable Form, Line by Line

A power of attorney lets someone you trust handle your money and property when you cannot, or simply when you are not there. Texas writes its own version into law: the statutory durable power of attorney, a form printed word for word in the Texas Estates Code. It has fourteen powers you grant by initialing, two choices about when it starts, and a few rules that catch people out, such as where you must sign if your agent may ever need to sign a home equity loan.

This page walks through the official form line by line, quoting the statute, and explains what the law says a bank must do when your agent shows up with it. You can download the form free as a PDF or Word file at the end.

What makes a Texas durable power of attorney valid

An ordinary power of attorney stops working when you lose capacity, which is exactly when your family needs it most. A durable one keeps working. Section 751.0021(a) lists four requirements:

Requirement	What the statute says
In writing	A “writing or other record that designates another person as agent and grants authority to that agent to act in the place of the principal”.
Signed by an adult	Signed “by an adult principal or in the adult principal’s conscious presence by another adult directed by the principal to sign”.
Durability wording	“This power of attorney is not affected by subsequent disability or incapacity of the principal”, or “This power of attorney becomes effective on the disability or incapacity of the principal”, or similar words.
Acknowledged	Acknowledged before an officer authorized “to take acknowledgments to deeds of conveyance” and to “administer oaths”. The officer may be one authorized under the laws of Texas “or another state”. In practice, a notary public.

A durable power of attorney “executed in this state is valid if the execution of the instrument complies with Section 751.0021(a)” (section 751.0023). And under section 752.004, the statutory form is legally sufficient if its wording “complies substantially” with section 752.051, the form “is properly completed” and your signature “is acknowledged”.

The 14 powers on the form

The form lists powers (A) to (N). To grant one, you initial the line in front of it. To grant them all, you initial line (O) and ignore the others. A line you leave blank is a power you withhold, and the form says you “may, but do not need to, cross out each power withheld”. Each power is defined in its own section of Chapter 752:

Line	Power	Defined in
(A)	Real property transactions	Section 752.102
(B)	Tangible personal property transactions	Section 752.103
(C)	Stock and bond transactions	Section 752.104
(D)	Commodity and option transactions	Section 752.105
(E)	Banking and other financial institution transactions	Section 752.106
(F)	Business operating transactions	Section 752.107
(G)	Insurance and annuity transactions	Section 752.108
(H)	Estate, trust, and other beneficiary transactions	Section 752.109
(I)	Claims and litigation	Section 752.110
(J)	Personal and family maintenance	Section 752.111
(K)	Benefits from social security, Medicare, Medicaid, or other governmental programs or civil or military service	Section 752.112
(L)	Retirement plan transactions	Section 752.113
(M)	Tax matters	Section 752.114
(N)	Digital assets and the content of an electronic communication	Section 752.1145
(O)	All of the powers listed in (A) through (N)	Form, section 752.051

Leaving lines blank does not spoil the document. Section 752.002 says the power of attorney is still valid even if one or more of the optional powers “are not initialed”, or if the form “includes specific limitations on, or additions to” the powers.

Five powers that need express permission

Some acts can change who gets your property when you die. Under section 751.031(b), your agent may do the following “only if the durable power of attorney designating the agent expressly grants the agent the authority”, and only if the act “is not otherwise prohibited by another agreement or instrument” that governs the property:

• create, amend, revoke, or terminate an inter vivos trust (a trust created during your lifetime);
• make a gift;
• create or change rights of survivorship;
• create or change a beneficiary designation;
• delegate authority granted under the power of attorney.

Section 752.052 gives optional wording to add to the statutory form for this, under the heading “GRANT OF SPECIFIC AUTHORITY (OPTIONAL)”, with its own warning: “Granting any of the following will give your agent the authority to take actions that could significantly reduce your property or change how your property is distributed at your death.” Our template includes that block before the signature. Initial only what you mean to give. Note that the template then has two gift lines: the form’s own special instruction on gifts, and the gift line in this optional block.

The interaction with lines (G) and (L) is technical. The insurance power lets your agent change the beneficiary of an insurance contract or annuity, “except that the attorney in fact or agent may be designated a beneficiary only to the extent authorized” (section 752.108); the retirement plan power has a similar limit (section 752.113). The express grant in section 751.031(b)(4) widens those powers (section 751.033). If beneficiary designations matter to you, ask a lawyer how they fit together.

There is one more safeguard. Unless the document says otherwise, an agent who is not your ancestor, spouse or descendant cannot use those powers to create an interest in your property for themselves or for someone they must support (section 751.031(c)).

Gifts: the annual limit

The form has a separate special instruction for gifts. If you initial it, your agent may make gifts, but “the amount of a gift to an individual may not exceed the amount of annual exclusions allowed from the federal gift tax for the calendar year of the gift”. That ties the limit to the federal gift tax annual exclusion, which the IRS adjusts over time, so the form does not print a dollar amount. Section 751.032(c) allows up to twice the exclusion with a spouse’s split-gift consent when a power of attorney grants general gift authority, but it applies “unless the durable power of attorney otherwise provides” (751.032(b)), and the form’s sentence sets its own cap. Check with a lawyer before relying on the higher figure. Your agent must also make gifts only as consistent with your objectives, if known, or your best interest (section 751.032(d)).

When it takes effect: now or on incapacity

The form makes you choose between two alternatives by crossing out the one you do not want:

Alternative	Effect
(A) Not affected by disability	“This power of attorney is not affected by my subsequent disability or incapacity.” Effective on the date you sign it, and keeps working if you later lose capacity.
(B) Springing	“This power of attorney becomes effective upon my disability or incapacity.” Your agent can act only after that happens.
Neither crossed out	“IT WILL BE ASSUMED THAT YOU CHOSE ALTERNATIVE (A).”

If you choose (B) and do not define incapacity yourself, the form says you are incapacitated once “a physician certifies in writing at a date later than the date this power of attorney is executed that, based on the physician’s medical examination of me, I am mentally incapable of managing my financial affairs.” Section 751.00201 sets the same default. A springing power is harder to use: your agent must first get that certificate, and a bank may ask that the agent’s certification include “a written statement from a physician attending the principal that states that the principal is presently disabled or incapacitated” (section 751.203(a)).

Agents, co-agents, successors and pay

• Co-agents. You may appoint more than one agent. “Unless you provide otherwise, co-agents may act independently.” The form lets you require them to act jointly or by majority instead.
• Successor agents. You name them in a single line, “each to act alone and successively, in the order named”. They step in if an agent dies, becomes incapacitated, resigns, refuses to act, is removed by court order, or if your marriage to the agent is dissolved.
• Compensation. If you initial neither sentence, “each agent will be entitled to compensation that is reasonable under the circumstances”. You can instead allow expenses only.
• Special instructions. The form leaves lines for “special instructions limiting or extending the powers granted to your agent”.

How to sign a Texas power of attorney

1. Fill in names and addresses for you and your agent, and any successors.
2. Initial the powers you are granting, line by line or line (O) for all.
3. Cross out alternative (A) or (B).
4. Sign before a notary. The notary completes the acknowledgment at the end of the form. The statute does not ask for witnesses.
5. Give your agent the signed original or keep it where your agent can reach it. The form says “any third party who receives a copy of this document may act under it”, and a photocopy “has the same effect as the original instrument” unless another statute or the document says otherwise (section 751.0023(c)).

Real estate: record it within 30 days

If your agent signs a deed, mortgage, deed of trust, lien, mineral lease, memorandum of a lease or other instrument about real property that “is to be recorded”, the power of attorney “must be recorded in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the property is located not later than the 30th day after the date the instrument is filed for recording” (section 751.151). Otherwise, nobody may require it to be recorded unless section 751.151 or another Texas law requires it (section 751.202).

What a bank must do when your agent presents it

Texas does not let a bank or other business simply ignore a valid durable power of attorney. Under section 751.201, the person it is presented to must either accept it or, within set deadlines, ask for one of three things:

The bank may ask for	Deadline to ask	Deadline to accept after receiving it
Agent’s certification, under penalty of perjury (751.203)	10th business day after presentation	7th business day
Opinion of counsel, with the reason in writing (751.204)	10th business day	7th business day
English translation, if any part is in another language (751.205)	5th business day	Treated as presented when the translation arrives

The bank also may not demand “an additional or different form of the power of attorney” for authority your document already grants (section 751.202). It may refuse only on the grounds listed in section 751.206, for example if it believes in good faith the power of attorney is not valid, if it has actual knowledge it was terminated, or if it would not otherwise be required to deal with you in the same circumstances, such as opening a new customer relationship.

• Deadlines can be extended if your agent and the bank agree (751.201(c)).
• If your agent does not provide a requested certification, opinion or translation, the bank does not have to accept (751.201(e)).
• The opinion of counsel is provided “at the principal’s expense” if requested in time (751.204(b)).
• A refusal must be in writing, with the reasons, by the date the bank would otherwise have had to accept (751.207).
• Your agent can sue. If a court finds the refusal broke the rules, it “shall order the person to accept the power of attorney” and may award costs and attorney’s fees (751.212).

Your agent’s duties

The statutory form ends with a page called “Important Information for Agent”. Accepting the role creates a fiduciary relationship. In the form’s words, a fiduciary duty generally includes the duty to act in good faith, “do nothing beyond the authority granted”, act loyally for your benefit, avoid conflicts, and disclose that they act as agent by signing “(Principal’s Name) by (Your Signature) as Agent”. The agent must keep records of each action and, if you ask, give you an accounting. An agent who breaks the rules “may be liable for any damages caused by the violation or subject to prosecution for misapplication of property by a fiduciary”.

When it ends

Under section 751.132, an agent’s authority ends when you revoke it; when the agent dies, becomes incapacitated, is no longer qualified or resigns; when your marriage to the agent is dissolved by divorce or annulment or declared void, “unless the power of attorney otherwise provides”; or when the power of attorney itself ends. It also ends at your death, as the form tells you. Time alone does not end it: the authority continues “notwithstanding a lapse of time since the execution of the power of attorney”.

Signing a new power of attorney does not cancel the old one by itself. Section 751.135: it “does not revoke a durable power of attorney previously executed by the principal unless the subsequent power of attorney provides that the previous power of attorney is revoked or that all other durable powers of attorney are revoked.” If you are replacing an old one, say so in the special instructions and tell everyone who holds a copy.

A guardianship changes things too. If a court appoints a permanent guardian of your estate, the agent’s powers “are automatically revoked” when the guardian qualifies, unless the court orders otherwise. A temporary guardian suspends them (section 751.133).

Common mistakes

• Assuming line (O) covers everything. Section 751.031(b) requires an express grant for gifts, trusts, survivorship, beneficiary designations and delegation.
• Signing a new power of attorney without revoking the old one. Both stay in effect unless the new one says otherwise.
• Signing before a mobile notary when a home equity loan is likely. Sign at a lender, attorney or title company instead.
• Choosing a springing power without planning for the physician’s certificate. Your agent cannot act until it exists.
• Forgetting to record it when the agent sells or mortgages real property.
• Using it for health care decisions. It cannot do that; sign a medical power of attorney as well.
• Using it for federal taxes without checking. The IRS has its own authorization, Form 2848. Line (M), tax matters, lets your agent sign “any power of attorney form required by the Internal Revenue Service” (section 752.114).

Free Texas power of attorney form (statutory durable form)

Download the form in PDF or Word. It reproduces section 752.051 word for word, including the notice, the 14 powers, the special instructions, the effective-date alternatives, the notary acknowledgment and the “Important Information for Agent” page, and adds the optional “Grant of Specific Authority” wording from section 752.052.

Texas power of attorney: common questions

Does a Texas power of attorney need to be notarized?

Yes, for a durable power of attorney. Section 751.0021 requires it to be acknowledged before an officer who can take acknowledgments and administer oaths, which in practice means a notary public.

Does a Texas power of attorney need witnesses?

The Estates Code does not require witnesses for a durable power of attorney. The statutory form has no witness lines, only the notary acknowledgment.

Do I have to use the statutory form?

No. Section 752.003 says the form “is not exclusive, and other forms of power of attorney may be used”. Whatever form you use, a person asked to accept a valid durable power of attorney cannot demand “an additional or different form” for authority it already grants (section 751.202).

Does a new power of attorney cancel the old one?

No, not automatically. Under section 751.135 the earlier one stays in effect unless the new one says it revokes the previous power of attorney or all other durable powers of attorney.

Does a power of attorney expire in Texas?

Not by itself. It lasts until you revoke it, your death, a termination event you wrote into it, or one of the other events in section 751.132, regardless of how much time has passed.

Can my agent make medical decisions with it?

No. The form says so in its notice. Use a Texas medical power of attorney for health care.

Does it still work after I die?

No. The form tells you the agent’s authority continues until “you die or revoke the power of attorney”. What happens to your property at your death is governed by your will; see our Texas last will guide.

Related

• Durable power of attorney: how durability works in other states
• Texas medical power of attorney for health care decisions
• Power of attorney template
• Texas affidavit of heirship
• Florida power of attorney, for comparison