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

One Ohio chapter holds two completely separate power of attorney regimes, and picking the wrong half is an easy mistake. An Ohio Non-Durable (General) Power of Attorney gives an agent authority over your financial affairs and states expressly that the authority ends on your incapacity. The rules for it are in the Ohio Uniform Power of Attorney Act at sections 1337.21 to 1337.64 of the Revised Code.

Start by making sure you are reading the right part of chapter 1337.

Two Sets of Rules, One Chapter

Sections 1337.11 to 1337.17 govern the durable power of attorney for health care, and section 1337.12 there is headed Formality of Execution. Sections 1337.21 to 1337.64 are the Uniform Power of Attorney Act and govern financial powers. Your document belongs to the second group, and guidance that cites section 1337.12 is describing the health care instrument, not this one.

Say That It Ends at Incapacity

Section 1337.24 is one sentence, and it is the sentence this whole page turns on. A power of attorney created under sections 1337.21 to 1337.64 of the Revised Code is durable unless it expressly provides that it is terminated by the incapacity of the principal. Silence leaves you with a durable document.

Some Powers Need Naming

Ohio keeps a set of high-stakes powers behind an express grant. Section 1337.42 is headed Authority That Requires Specific Grant; Grant of General Authority, and section 1337.58 is headed Gifts. A broad phrase handing your agent everything you could do yourself will not reach the acts those sections cover.

An Optional State Form

Section 1337.60 publishes a statutory form power of attorney and section 1337.61 an agent’s certification. Using either is a choice.

The Act arrived in 2012, so the answer depends partly on when your document was signed. Section 1337.23 is headed Applicability and section 1337.64 is headed Effect on Existing Powers of Attorney, and between them they decide which documents the modern rules reach.

That matters more in Ohio than in most states because of the chapter’s split personality. A document drafted from an older Ohio precedent may be working from provisions that the Uniform Power of Attorney Act replaced, and the section numbers in the two halves sit close enough together to be confused at a glance.

Two practical habits follow. Check the date on any Ohio power of attorney before you rely on it, and check which range of sections a template or a piece of guidance is citing. An Ohio Non-Durable (General) Power of Attorney drafted today should be working from sections 1337.21 to 1337.64 and nothing earlier.

Section 1337.27, headed Meaning and Effect of Power of Attorney, is the section that decides which jurisdiction’s law applies to a document, which matters if yours was signed in another state.

1. Put down your details and your agent’s, and add a successor agent.
2. Write in the express provision terminating the document on your incapacity, tracking section 1337.24.
3. Name separately any high-stakes power you actually intend to grant, rather than relying on a general phrase.
4. Add an end date or the task whose completion closes the authority.
5. Decide whether to build on the section 1337.60 statutory form or draft your own.
6. Sign and date the document.
7. Have your signature acknowledged before a notary public, which is what banks and title companies will look for.

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

• Your name and address, and your agent’s
• Any successor agent
• The authority granted, itemized
• Any high-stakes power named expressly rather than by general words
• The express provision terminating the document on your incapacity
• An end date or defined task
• Your signature, the date, and a notary acknowledgment