Free Missouri Durable Power of Attorney Form

A Missouri durable power of attorney names an attorney in fact to act on your property and money, with authority that survives your disability. Sections 404.700 to 404.735 of the Revised Statutes, cited as the Durable Power of Attorney Law of Missouri, govern it.

Missouri kept its own framework rather than adopting the newer uniform act, so its requirements read differently from those of several neighboring states.

Section 404.705 sets three conditions, and your document has to meet all of them together. Two out of three leaves you with an ordinary power of attorney.

The durability statement

Your document must include one of the statements the statute prescribes. One version says the authority of the attorney in fact will not terminate or be void or voidable if you are or become disabled or incapacitated, or if there is later uncertainty about whether you are dead or alive.

Your signature and the date

Section 404.705 asks you to subscribe the power of attorney and date it.

A notary

Your document also needs an acknowledgment in the manner the law prescribes for conveyances of real estate, which in practice means a notary public. Missouri treats that step as a condition of durability rather than a helpful extra.

No, and this catches families off guard. Section 404.705 gives a person you appoint as attorney in fact no duty to exercise the authority you granted, whether or not you have become disabled, are missing, or are held in a foreign country.

The duty arises only by agreement. Your attorney in fact takes on an obligation to act where they have expressly agreed in writing to do so.

Such an agreement binds them as a fiduciary. Section 404.705 makes it enforceable without regard to whether any consideration supports a contractual obligation.

Section 404.710 draws a line no drafting can cross. Whether or not a power of attorney is durable, and whether or not it grants general powers, it cannot delegate authority to:

• Make, publish, declare, amend, or revoke a will for you
• Make, execute, modify, or revoke a living will declaration for you
• Require you, against your will, to take any action or refrain from taking any action
• Carry out anything you specifically forbade while free of disability or incapacity

A second rule covers sensitive powers that Missouri does permit. Section 404.710 grants those only where your document expressly enumerates and authorizes the actions, so a broad general grant does not sweep them in.

Marriage matters too. Section 404.717 ends the authority once someone files an action for divorce or dissolution between you and an attorney in fact you married, unless your document provides otherwise.

A complete Missouri durable power of attorney carries the statutory durability statement, your signature and the date, your attorney in fact’s name, and an express list of any sensitive powers you intend to grant. Successors prevent the document failing later.

Recording is usually unnecessary. Section 404.705 does not require recording for the document to bind you, your attorney in fact, and third parties, except where a real estate transaction calls for it.