How to Get Power of Attorney in Wisconsin: Forms and Signing Rules

To get a power of attorney in Wisconsin, you choose an agent you trust, complete the state’s statutory form for either healthcare decisions or financial matters (or both), sign it with the witnesses or notary the law requires, and give copies to the people and institutions that will need to rely on it. Done correctly, the document keeps your affairs in the hands of someone you picked instead of a court-appointed guardian if you ever lose the ability to manage things yourself.

Decide Which Power of Attorney You Need

Wisconsin treats healthcare and financial powers of attorney as two separate documents under two separate chapters of the statutes. Most people benefit from having both, because one covers medical decisions and the other covers money and property.

A Power of Attorney for Health Care, governed by Chapter 155, lets you name an agent to make medical decisions if you cannot receive information, evaluate it, or communicate a decision for yourself.¹ Your agent’s authority only activates when you cannot speak for yourself; as long as you can communicate, you make your own choices. The document also lets you record wishes about life-sustaining treatment, feeding tubes, and organ donation.

A Power of Attorney for Finances and Property, governed by Chapter 244, authorizes an agent to pay bills, manage bank and investment accounts, file taxes, and handle real estate. Under Chapter 244, this document is durable by default, which means it stays in effect if you become incapacitated unless you specifically write in language ending it at that point.² For most people that is the whole point: you want the document to work precisely when you cannot act.

You also decide how broad the authority is. A general financial POA grants access across categories like banking, investments, real estate, and taxes. A limited POA restricts the agent to a specific task, such as closing on a property sale while you are out of the country.

Choose Your Agent (and a Backup)

Picking the right person matters more than any other step. Your agent will have legal authority to act as you within the areas you specify, and undoing damage from a bad choice is expensive and slow.

Any competent adult can serve as a financial agent. For a healthcare agent, Wisconsin adds a restriction: your healthcare provider, an employee of that provider, or an employee of a facility where you are a patient generally cannot serve unless they are a relative.³

Name at least one successor agent in each document. If your primary agent dies, becomes incapacitated, or declines to serve, the successor steps in automatically with the same authority.⁴ Without a successor, the entire POA can terminate at the moment you most need it.

An agent under a financial POA takes on fiduciary duties enforceable by law: acting in good faith, following your known wishes, keeping records, and staying within the authority you granted. An agent who violates those duties can be held personally liable for the loss and for attorney fees needed to recover.⁵ Talk to the person before you name them so they understand what they are accepting.

Get the Right Form

Wisconsin publishes official statutory forms for both types of POA. Using them is the simplest way to meet all legal requirements without paying for custom drafting.

For healthcare, the Department of Health Services publishes Form F-00085, the Power of Attorney for Health Care. It walks you through naming your agent, recording treatment preferences, and signing with witnesses.⁶
For finances, the Department of Health Services also provides Form F-00036, the Power of Attorney for Finance and Property, based on the statutory form in Section 244.61. The form lists individual categories of authority; you initial each category you want to grant, and any category you skip stays outside your agent’s power.⁷

You are not required to use these forms. An attorney can draft a custom document, typically for $150 to $500 for straightforward work, with fees varying. Custom drafting makes sense if you have complex assets, business interests, or unusual conditions. For most standard situations, the statutory forms are perfectly adequate.

On the financial form, you also choose when the document takes effect. Most people pick immediate effect on signing, so it is ready whenever needed. A “springing” POA activates only when a specific event occurs, such as a physician certifying your incapacity, which offers peace of mind but can slow your agent down when they need to act quickly.

Sign It Correctly

Execution rules differ between the two documents, and getting this step wrong can invalidate the whole thing.

Healthcare POA Signing Rules

You must sign the healthcare POA (or direct someone to sign it in your presence), and two witnesses must watch you sign.⁸ Wisconsin disqualifies several categories of witnesses:

Anyone related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, or your domestic partner.
Anyone who knows they are entitled to part of your estate.
Anyone directly financially responsible for your healthcare.
Your current healthcare providers and their employees, other than chaplains and social workers.
The person you are naming as your healthcare agent.

Notarization is not required for a healthcare POA. The two-witness signature is what makes it valid.⁸

Financial POA Signing Rules

A financial POA must comply with Section 244.05. Notarization is not strictly mandated for every financial POA, but the statutory form includes a notary acknowledgment block, and getting the document notarized is the standard recommendation. A notarized signature is presumed genuine, which protects the document against later challenges.⁹ Practically, banks and other financial institutions routinely refuse to honor a financial POA that is not notarized, so skipping notarization can leave you with a document nobody will accept.

One useful rule: Wisconsin law treats a photocopy or electronically transmitted copy of a POA the same as the original.⁹ You do not need to produce the original every time the document is used.

Deliver and Store Copies

A signed POA in a drawer helps nobody. After execution, distribute copies to the people and institutions that will rely on the document:

Your agent and any successors, so they know their authority and can present the document when acting for you.
Your bank, brokerage, and insurance company. Some institutions have their own preferred POA forms, and submitting yours early gives you time to work through any pushback while you can still fix things.
For a healthcare POA, your primary care physician and any hospital where you regularly receive care.

Keep the original somewhere secure but accessible, such as a fireproof home safe. If you use a safe deposit box, make sure your agent has independent access; otherwise the document they need to gain authority is locked inside a box they cannot open.

If your financial POA grants authority over real estate, record a copy with the Register of Deeds in the county where the property sits. Recording puts the public on notice of your agent’s authority, which is what title companies and buyers will look for during a sale.

Changing or Ending a Power of Attorney

You can revoke a POA at any time while you are mentally competent. Wisconsin law also ends a financial POA automatically in several situations:¹⁰

You revoke it, or revoke a specific agent’s authority.
You die. Your agent has no authority over your estate; the executor or personal representative appointed through probate takes over.
A limited POA’s purpose is accomplished.
You file for divorce, annulment, or legal separation from an agent who is your spouse, unless the POA specifically says otherwise. The same rule applies when a domestic partnership ends.¹⁰

Signing a new POA does not automatically revoke an older one. If you want the new document to replace a prior POA, say so explicitly in the new document.¹¹ Otherwise both documents can be in effect at once, which invites conflict between agents.

When you do revoke, notify your agent in writing and send the revocation to every third party that received the original, including your bank and healthcare providers. Until those parties get notice, they can continue relying on the old document in good faith.

1
Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Instructions to Complete the Power of Attorney for Health Care Form
2
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 244.04 – Power of Attorney Is Durable
3
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 155.05 – Power of Attorney for Health Care Instrument
4
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 244.11 – Coagents and Successor Agents
5
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 244.17 – Agent’s Liability
6
Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Advance Directives – Forms
7
Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Power of Attorney for Finance and Property
8
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 155.10 – Power of Attorney for Health Care Instrument, Execution, Witnesses
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Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 244.06 – Validity of Power of Attorney
10
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 244.10 – Termination of Power of Attorney or Agent’s Authority
11
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 244.10 – Execution of Power of Attorney Not a Revocation