Arkansas Power of Attorney Laws and Requirements

To create a valid power of attorney in Arkansas, the principal must sign the document (or direct someone else to sign it in their conscious presence), and while notarization is not technically mandatory, it is practically essential because banks, title companies, and other institutions rely on acknowledged signatures and the law’s third-party protections only apply to notarized POAs. Beyond execution, Arkansas power of attorney requirements include a critical default rule most people miss: every POA created under the Uniform Power of Attorney Act is durable automatically, meaning it survives your incapacity unless the document expressly says otherwise.¹

Signing a Valid Power of Attorney

A financial POA in Arkansas must be signed by the principal, meaning the person granting authority. If the principal is physically unable to sign, another person can sign for them, but only when the principal directs it and is consciously present at the moment of signing.²

Notarization is where the practical reality parts ways with the bare statute. The law does not require a notary for the POA to be valid, but acknowledging your signature before one creates a legal presumption that the signature is genuine.² More importantly, the Act’s third-party protections — the rules that give banks and other institutions legal cover for accepting the document in good faith — apply only to acknowledged powers of attorney.³ An un-notarized POA will cause problems almost everywhere you try to use it.

Arkansas does not require witnesses for a standard financial POA. Healthcare POAs follow different rules, covered below.

Durability Is Automatic

This is the single most misunderstood feature of Arkansas POA law. Under the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, every POA is durable by default. It continues in effect even if the principal later becomes incapacitated.¹ You do not need to include the words “durable” or “survives incapacity” anywhere in the document.

This flips the presumption many people expect from older POA frameworks, where you had to add specific language to make a document durable. In Arkansas, if you want a non-durable POA — one that stops the moment you lose capacity — the document has to say so explicitly. Otherwise, your agent’s authority continues through incapacity.

When the Power of Attorney Takes Effect

A POA takes effect the moment it is signed unless the principal says otherwise. If you are not comfortable giving your agent immediate authority, Arkansas allows a springing POA that activates only when a specific event occurs, most commonly your incapacity.⁴

The practical challenge with a springing POA is proving the triggering event has happened. Arkansas addresses this by letting the principal name one or more people in the document who can determine in writing that the event has occurred. If the trigger is incapacity and no one has been named (or the named person cannot or will not act), the POA activates upon a written determination by a physician, a licensed psychologist, an attorney, a judge, or an appropriate government official, depending on the type of incapacity.⁴

The person authorized to make this determination can also act as the principal’s HIPAA representative to access health information and communicate with providers. Without that, the incapacity determination itself can get tangled in medical privacy rules.

What Your Agent Can and Cannot Do

A general POA gives your agent broad authority over banking, investments, taxes, and other financial matters. When a POA grants authority to do “all acts” the principal could do, the agent receives the full range of general financial powers described in the Act.⁵ A limited (or special) POA restricts the agent to specific transactions, such as selling a particular property or handling a single account.

Even under the broadest general POA, certain sensitive actions require an explicit grant of authority in the document itself. Your agent cannot do any of the following unless the POA specifically authorizes it:

Make gifts of your property
Change beneficiary designations on accounts or policies
Create or change rights of survivorship
Create, amend, or revoke a trust
Delegate authority granted under the POA to someone else
Waive your right to be the beneficiary of a joint and survivor annuity or retirement plan survivor benefit
Exercise fiduciary powers that you have authority to delegate

These restrictions exist because each of these actions can permanently alter your estate or financial position.⁵ If you want your agent to continue your pattern of annual gifts to family, for example, the POA must expressly authorize gifting. Without that specific language, the gifts are unauthorized no matter how broadly the rest of the document reads.

Once an agent begins acting, Arkansas law imposes fiduciary duties: acting in your best interest and in good faith, staying within the authority granted, keeping records of all transactions, avoiding conflicts of interest, and preserving your known estate plan where consistent with your best interest.⁶

Naming Co-Agents and Successor Agents

You can name two or more people as co-agents. Unless the POA says otherwise, each co-agent can act independently, meaning either agent can sign documents or conduct transactions without the other’s approval.⁷ If you want co-agents to act only jointly, requiring both signatures, the POA must explicitly say so.

You can also designate one or more successor agents to step in if your primary agent dies, resigns, becomes incapacitated, or declines to serve. A successor has the same authority as the original agent unless the document limits it, and cannot act until all predecessor agents are out of the picture.⁷

Co-agents are generally not liable for each other’s misconduct, as long as they do not participate in or help conceal a breach. But an agent who learns of a breach by another agent must notify the principal. If the principal is incapacitated, the agent must take reasonable steps to protect the principal’s interests, and failing to do so creates personal liability for damages that could have been avoided.⁷

Healthcare Decisions Need a Separate Document

Medical decisions are not covered by a financial POA. They require a healthcare power of attorney governed by the Arkansas Healthcare Decisions Act, a separate statute from the Uniform Power of Attorney Act.⁸ A healthcare POA lets your agent make medical choices when you cannot, including end-of-life decisions, and is commonly paired with a living will.

The execution rules are different. A healthcare POA must be either notarized or witnessed by two competent adults. Neither witness can be the agent, and at least one witness must be someone who is not related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption and who would not inherit from you under your will or by law.⁹ If you use witnesses rather than a notary, the document must include an attestation clause confirming the witnesses meet these requirements.

Recording a Power of Attorney Used for Real Estate

Most POAs in Arkansas do not have to be filed or recorded anywhere. The exception is a POA your agent will use to convey real property. In that case, the POA must be acknowledged and recorded along with any deed the agent signs under its authority. Without recording, the deed may not serve as legal notice to future buyers or lenders.

Recording is done with the county recorder in the county where the property sits. Fees vary by county. If you later revoke the POA, filing a revocation notice with the same recorder’s office prevents the former agent from continuing to act under the recorded document.

Getting Third Parties to Accept the POA

A perfectly executed POA is useless if the institution in front of you refuses to honor it. Arkansas protects third parties who accept an acknowledged POA in good faith: a person who accepts a notarized POA without actual knowledge that it is void, invalid, or terminated, or that the agent is exceeding authority, can rely on the document as presented.³

Before accepting, a third party may ask the agent for a certification under penalty of perjury about facts regarding the principal, the agent, or the POA. They can also request an English translation if part of the document is in another language, or an opinion of counsel on a legal question about the POA. The cost falls on the principal unless the request comes more than seven business days after the POA was presented.³

If a third party wrongfully refuses to accept a properly acknowledged statutory form POA, a court can order acceptance and award the principal reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.¹⁰ That remedy gives agents real leverage when an institution stalls without a legitimate reason.

Revoking or Terminating a POA

You can revoke a POA at any time while you are mentally competent. The revocation should be in writing. Notarization is not legally required for the revocation itself but is advisable if the original POA was notarized. Deliver copies to the agent and to any institutions that have been relying on the POA.

A POA terminates automatically in several situations:

Death of the principal. The agent’s authority ends immediately; ongoing matters pass to the estate’s executor or administrator.
Incapacity, but only if the POA expressly says it terminates on incapacity. Remember, durability is the default.
Divorce or separation when the agent is the principal’s spouse. The agent’s authority terminates when a divorce, annulment, or legal separation action is filed, unless the POA provides otherwise.
Expiration, if the POA includes an end date.

Termination is not effective against an agent or third party who, without actual knowledge of it, acts in good faith under the POA.¹¹ If your agent conducts a transaction the day after your death without knowing you have died, the transaction can still bind your estate. Prompt notification matters. Courts can also revoke a POA or remove an agent on evidence of abuse, fraud, or mismanagement, and any interested person — a family member, another fiduciary, or a government agency — can petition for that relief.

1
Justia. Arkansas Code 28-68-104 – Power of Attorney Is Durable
2
Justia. Arkansas Code 28-68-105 – Execution of Power of Attorney
3
Justia. Arkansas Code 28-68-119 – Acceptance of Power of Attorney
4
Justia. Arkansas Code 28-68-109 – When Power of Attorney Effective
5
Justia. Arkansas Code 28-68-201 – Authority That Requires Specific Grant – Grant of General Authority
6
Justia. Arkansas Code 28-68-114 – Agent’s Duties
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Justia. Arkansas Code 28-68-111 – Coagents and Successor Agents
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Justia. Arkansas Code 20-6-101 – Title
9
FindLaw. Arkansas Code 20-6-103 – Advance Directives
10
FindLaw. Arkansas Code 28-68-120 – Refusal to Accept Power of Attorney
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Justia. Arkansas Code 28-68-110 – Termination of Power of Attorney or Agent’s Authority