Power of Attorney Notarisation in Fort Myers

The Florida requirement people miss

Under Florida Statutes Chapter 709, a power of attorney must be signed by the principal in the presence of two subscribing witnesses and acknowledged before a notary public. Not one witness. Not the notary acting as the witness. Two witnesses, plus a notary, all present at the signing.

We bring this up on the first phone call, every time, because a POA that was signed with one witness in a hurry is the single most common defective document we are asked to fix — usually by a family who only found out when a bank or a hospital refused it.

• Two witnesses must watch the principal sign
• A notary must take the acknowledgement
• Witnesses should not be named in the document or stand to benefit
• The principal must be lucid and acting voluntarily — no exceptions

We can bring the witnesses

If you cannot round up two disinterested adults, say so when you call. We can arrange qualified witnesses to attend with us so the whole thing is handled in a single appointment rather than three attempts.

This matters most for the people who need a POA most: someone living alone, someone in a facility where the staff are not permitted to witness, someone whose only nearby relatives are the ones named in the document and therefore should not serve.

What we will not do

We will not draft your power of attorney, choose between a durable and a limited POA for you, or tell you what powers to grant. That is legal advice, and a notary committing it is a crime in Florida rather than merely bad practice.

What we will do is look at the signature blocks before anyone signs and tell you if the form you downloaded is missing the witness lines Florida requires — which happens constantly with generic online templates.