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Discuss your wishes with the person to whom you wish to grant power of attorney -- that is, your prospective agent. ... Complete the appropriate power of attorney form. ... Sign the form in the presence of a witness. ... Provide a copy of the completed form to your agent.

An Illinois Power of Attorney for Health Care has been created by the Illinois legislature. This form must be signed by the principal and one witness. It does not need to be notarized.

A power of attorney needs to be signed in front of a licensed notary public in order to be legally binding. The notary public is a representative of the state government, and their job is to verify the identity of the signer, ensure they are signing under their own free will, and witness the signing.

Have your power of attorney document with you when you sign anything on the principal's behalf. ... Sign the principal's name first, not your own. ... Sign your own name after the principal's name, after including the word by. ... End the signature by indicating that you're acting under power of attorney.

Witnesses and Notarization Not everyone can act as a witness. In most situations, your witnesses must be mentally competent and must be at least 18 years old. Your state may require the witnesses to be disinterested in your power of attorney, which means your witnesses do not stand to gain from the power of attorney.

A durable medical power of attorney gives the health care agent broad power and responsibility to make decisions regarding the principal's medical treatment, including medication, tests, nourishment and hydration, as well as decisions regarding surgery, doctors, hospitals and rehabilitation facilities.

Power of attorney requirements vary by state, but typically are signed by the principal and need to be witnessed and/or acknowledged before a notary public. Usually, powers of attorney do not need to be recorded. However, powers of attorney dealing with the sale and purchase of real estate must be recorded.

While you don't have to hire a lawyer to write a durable power of attorney, an estate planning lawyer can simplify the process.

A Power of Attorney might be used to allow another person to sign a contract for the Principal. It can be used to give another person the authority to make health care decisions, do financial transactions, or sign legal documents that the Principal cannot do for one reason or another.

If you lose your mental capacity at the time a decision needs to be made, and you haven't granted powers of attorney to anyone (or you did appoint attorneys, but they can no longer act for you), then the court can appoint someone to be your deputy.

The Principal's signature must be witnessed by two people who are not related to the Principal. If the Financial Power of Attorney document gives the Agent the authority to make real property transactions or personal property transactions, the Principal's signature must be notarized.

You cannot have more than one Agent acting at the same time. In Illinois, if you want to name more than one Agent, you must make one of them your primary Agent. If that Agent dies or can't make decisions for you, then your second Agent (the Successor Agent ) would act for you.

Yes. You can appoint more than one person to serve as your power of attorney representative. However, you should be sure to specify whether they can act individually or whether they must act jointly. ... You decide what powers you want to give your power of attorney.

The law does not forbid a principal from giving several different agents overlapping authority in several different powers of attorney. You are also free to name several coagents in a single power of attorney, or to prepare identical powers of attorney appointing different agents.

A power of attorney may name two people where one is primary attorney-in-fact with sole and complete power to act for the principal in all transactions. The second person may only be a successor attorney-in-fact in the event the primary is unable or unwilling to act.