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

Michigan rewrote these rules recently, and it now has two separate ways a document ends up non-durable. A Michigan Non-Durable (General) Power of Attorney gives an agent authority over your money and property that stops if you lose capacity. Michigan’s Uniform Power of Attorney Act, 2023 Public Act 187, took effect on July 1, 2024 and sits at sections 556.201 through 556.505 of the Michigan Compiled Laws.

Michigan ties durability to how you sign, which is unusual, and section 556.205 is where that happens.

Durability Depends on an Extra Step

To be durable, a power of attorney signed under subsection (1)(a) must meet one of two requirements. Either it is acknowledged by you before a notary public or other individual authorized to take acknowledgments, or it is signed in the presence of two witnesses who both also sign. A witness may not be an agent nominated in the power, and one of the witnesses may be the individual who also acts as the notary.

If Someone Signs for You

Subsection (3) is stricter. To be durable, a power of attorney signed under subsection (1)(b) must be signed in the presence of two witnesses as described in subsection (2)(b), regardless of whether the power is acknowledged. The notary route alone is not enough on that path.

Or Just Write the Limit In

The other route is wording. A power of attorney executed in accordance with the Act’s signing requirements is durable unless it expressly provides that it terminates on your incapacity, which is what section 556.204 does.

The statutory presumption, and something more useful than that. Subsection (4) of section 556.205 says a signature is presumed to be genuine if you acknowledge it before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments.

Subsection (5) then spells out the consequence of skipping that. A signature witnessed as described in subsection (2)(b) but not acknowledged before a notary is not entitled to the presumption of genuineness, and the power is not acknowledged within the meaning of sections 119 and 120. Those are the sections that govern acceptance of, and reliance on, an acknowledged power of attorney.

So the two routes to durability are not equivalent in practice. Witnesses satisfy the durability requirement, but only the notary route makes the document acknowledged for the purposes that matter when a bank or title company is deciding whether to honor it. If you are choosing between them for a Michigan Non-Durable (General) Power of Attorney, that is the reason to choose the notary.

Decide the two questions separately: the wording, and the ceremony.

1. Name your agent and any successor, and set out the authority granted.
2. Write in the express provision terminating the document on your incapacity, under section 556.204.
3. Give it a finish line: a calendar date, or the transaction it exists to complete.
4. Sign and date the document yourself.
5. If someone else signs your name for you, plan on two witnesses regardless, since subsection (3) requires them.
6. Take the document to a notary public and acknowledge your signature.
7. If you use witnesses instead, make sure neither is the agent nominated in the power.

A complete Michigan Non-Durable (General) Power of Attorney carries:

• Your name and address, and your agent’s
• Any successor agent
• The authority granted, itemized
• The express provision terminating it on your incapacity
• The date of signing
• An end date or defined task
• Your signature, plus a notarial acknowledgment or two qualifying witness signatures