Free Washington Durable Power of Attorney Form
Appoint an agent to manage your property and money if you cannot. Answer a few short questions and download your completed form in PDF or Word.
- Download as PDF and Word
- E-sign included
What Is a Washington Durable Power of Attorney?
A Washington durable power of attorney appoints an agent to act on your property and financial affairs, written so the authority outlasts your incapacity. Chapter 11.125 of the Revised Code of Washington, the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, has applied since 1 January 2017.
Washington defines the document narrowly. Section 11.125.020 says a power of attorney means a writing that uses the term power of attorney and grants authority to an agent, so the words themselves matter here.
Incapacity reaches broadly in return. The same section covers an impairment in the ability to receive and evaluate information or communicate decisions, and it also reaches an absentee, or someone outside the United States and unable to return.
It Is Not Durable Unless You Say So
This is the trap, and it catches people precisely because Washington adopted the uniform act. Most uniform act states make every document durable automatically. Washington did not.
Section 11.125.040 says the authority conferred terminates upon your incapacity unless the writing contains particular wording. That rule applies to documents created before 1 January 2017 and to those created on or after it.
The section names two phrasings. One reads that this power of attorney shall not be affected by disability of the principal. The alternative reads that this power of attorney shall become effective upon the disability of the principal.
Similar words work too, so long as they show you intended the authority to stay exercisable despite your incapacity.
Read your form for that sentence before you sign. A Washington document that never mentions disability is not durable, and it will stop working at exactly the moment you needed it to keep going.
Notary or Two Witnesses, and the Choice Matters
Section 11.125.050 asks you to sign and date a Washington durable power of attorney, then authenticate it one of two ways.
The notary route
Acknowledge your signature before a notary public or another individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments.
The witness route
Two or more competent witnesses attest by subscribing their names in your presence and at your direction. Section 11.125.050 disqualifies your home care providers, care providers at an adult family home or long-term care facility where you live, and anyone related to you or your agent by blood, marriage, or state registered domestic partnership.
Why the notary is the safer choice
Section 11.125.050 presumes only an acknowledged signature genuine. The witness route satisfies the statute but earns no presumption, and section 11.125.190 lets third parties lean on exactly that presumption.
One narrow exception exists. A limited power of attorney serving only to transfer vehicle ownership to an insurer after payment of damages needs no notarized signature, and you may sign it electronically.
Two Defaults That Surprise Families
Washington reverses the usual rule on coagents. Under section 11.125.110, where you name two or more people, all coagents must exercise their authority jointly unless the document provides otherwise, though a coagent may delegate to another coagent.
Divorce gets unusually careful treatment. Section 11.125.100 ends an agent’s authority once someone files an action for dissolution, annulment, or legal separation of your marriage or state registered domestic partnership with that agent, unless the document provides otherwise.
That termination can reverse. The same section reinstates the agent’s authority immediately once both parties consent to dismiss the action, or the petition comes back withdrawn.
A later document does not clear the field either. Section 11.125.100 says executing a power of attorney does not revoke an earlier one unless the new document says so.
What to Include in Your Washington Form
Your Washington durable power of attorney needs the section 11.125.040 durability wording, your signature and the date, your agent’s name, and a successor. Say plainly whether coagents may act independently, because the default is joint action.
Section 11.125.240 keeps a long list of authority away from your agent unless the document expressly grants it, including gifts, trusts, survivorship rights, beneficiary designations, and creating or amending a community property agreement.
One limit resists any drafting. Section 11.125.420 bars anyone from exercising rights under Washington’s Death with Dignity Act through a power of attorney.
