Free Iowa Non-Durable (General) Power of Attorney Form

Iowa keeps your agent at arm’s length from the signing itself, in two separate ways. An Iowa Non-Durable (General) Power of Attorney grants an agent authority over your financial and property affairs and states expressly that the authority ends if you become incapacitated. Chapter 633B of the Iowa Code, Iowa’s Uniform Power of Attorney Act, governs it.

One short paragraph does more work here than its length suggests.

The Notary Is Mandatory

A power of attorney must be acknowledged before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments. Iowa states that as a requirement, not as a way of earning a presumption. Most states adopting the uniform act offer only the presumption, so an Iowa document without an acknowledgment is missing something section 633B.105 demands.

Your Agent Cannot Sign for You

The document must be signed by you, or in your conscious presence by another individual directed by you to sign your name. Iowa then adds four words the uniform text does not have: that individual must be someone other than any prospective agent.

Your Agent Cannot Notarize It Either

The same section says plainly that an agent named in the power of attorney shall not notarize your signature. An acknowledged signature is then presumed to be genuine.

The Sentence That Ends It

Iowa starts from durability. A power of attorney created under the chapter is durable unless it expressly provides that it is terminated by your incapacity, under section 633B.104.

Section 633B.110 lists the events, and one of them is an Iowa addition worth knowing. A power of attorney terminates when you die, when you become incapacitated if the document is not durable, when you revoke it, when the document provides that it terminates, or when its purpose is accomplished.

Your agent’s own authority ends on a separate list: when you revoke that authority, when the agent dies, becomes incapacitated or resigns, when the power of attorney terminates, and when the agent is convicted of dependent adult abuse for having abused you.

That last one does not appear in the uniform text most states adopted. Iowa wrote it in, and it operates automatically on conviction rather than waiting for you to act. For anyone weighing whether to name a particular person in an Iowa Non-Durable (General) Power of Attorney, it is a useful thing to know exists.

1. Complete your details and your agent’s, and name a successor agent.
2. Grant no more authority than the errand actually needs.
3. Write the express provision section 633B.104 requires, terminating the document on your incapacity.
4. Set an end date, or name the task whose completion closes it.
5. Sign the document yourself if you can.
6. If you need someone to sign for you, pick a person who is not a prospective agent under the document.
7. Take it to a notary public who is not named as an agent, and have the acknowledgment completed.

A complete Iowa Non-Durable (General) Power of Attorney shows:

• Your name and address, and your agent’s
• Any successor agent
• The authority granted, itemized
• The express sentence terminating the document on your incapacity
• An end date or defined task
• Your signature and the notarial acknowledgment