Free New Jersey Non-Durable (General) Power of Attorney Form

New Jersey’s entire rule on how to execute one of these runs to a single sentence. A New Jersey Non-Durable (General) Power of Attorney is a written instrument authorizing an attorney-in-fact to act for you, without the words that would carry that authority past your incapacity. The Revised Durable Power of Attorney Act at sections 46:2B-8.1 to 46:2B-8.14 of the Revised Statutes governs it.

New Jersey asks for very little, which puts the weight on what you write.

The Signing Rule Is One Sentence

Your power of attorney has to be in writing, duly signed, and acknowledged in the manner set out in R.S.46:14-2.1. That is the whole of section 46:2B-8.9. No witnesses are called for, and the state publishes no short form to copy.

Who You Can Name

Your attorney-in-fact can be one individual, several individuals, or a qualified bank. New Jersey writes the bank option straight into its definition of a power of attorney at section 46:2B-8.2(a), which is worth knowing if nobody in your circle is the obvious choice.

Leave the Durability Words Out

A New Jersey document is durable only if it says so, using words like the power shall not be affected by your subsequent disability or incapacity, or lapse of time, or that it becomes effective upon your disability or incapacity, or similar words showing that intent. Omit them and the document is not durable. This is not a presume-durable state.

New Jersey legislates for that question separately, which few states do. Alongside the Revised Durable Power of Attorney Act sit two sections aimed squarely at banks: section 46:2B-13, titled Banking institutions to accept power of attorney, and section 46:2B-14, titled Banking institutions not liable for action in reliance on power of attorney. One directs, the other protects, and together they explain why a New Jersey document usually gets a smoother reception at a branch than the bare formality rule would suggest.

Section 46:2B-8.6, headed Good faith reliance, works in the same direction for third parties generally, which is useful for a New Jersey Non-Durable (General) Power of Attorney given how little the formality section asks for.

Because New Jersey gives you no form, the burden of being clear falls on your drafting. Two habits help. Describe the authority you are granting in specific terms rather than by a general phrase, since section 46:2B-8.13a is headed Power of attorney; gift of principal’s property; prohibited and signals that some acts need express words. And say plainly when the document ends, because section 46:2B-8.2(b) treats a stated time of termination as something the document supplies rather than something the statute assumes.

1. Put the appointment in writing and name your attorney-in-fact.
2. Decide whether you are naming an individual, several individuals, or a qualified bank.
3. Describe the specified acts your attorney-in-fact may perform, in detail.
4. Keep the section 46:2B-8.2(b) durability wording out of the document.
5. State the time of termination, or the act whose completion ends the authority.
6. Sign the document.
7. Have it acknowledged in the manner set out in R.S.46:14-2.1, which in practice means before a notary or other authorized officer.

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

• Your name and address as principal, and your attorney-in-fact’s
• The specified acts you are authorizing, described in detail
• No durability wording anywhere in the document
• A stated time of termination
• Any successor attorney-in-fact
• Your signature and the acknowledgment