REVOKING A POWER OF ATTORNEY

We are all capable of doing something foolish from time to time, or making a wrong decision, and then we have to find a way to reverse them. This week I will be looking at how you can revoke a Power of Attorney, or POA given to a individual, lay person or a lawyer, acting as your proxy.

In some cases a power of attorney can be so broad that it gives the person the power to handle everything on your behalf. This is all well and good under some circumstances, but can you imagine what could happen if you have a conflict with the person to whom you have given these powers?

If they have a power of attorney enabling them even to sell your house at their sole discretion, at any price, to anyone they find to be appropriate, it could be utterly disastrous for you. So, what can you do if you want to cancel this power of attorney? What should you do? What will happen if they sell your house behind your back, thereby abusing this power of attorney?

Obviously, this person can sell your house quite openly because you gave this power to them. In the event that they abuse this power and sell your house then you can take legal action against them for your loss both in criminal and civil court.

The person who granted a power of attorney can always revoke and withdraw this power of attorney. You are not required to show any reason for such a revocation process, your wish to do so if sufficient.

First, this is not a do-it-yourself type of thing, and I would recommend you find a local lawyer.

However, I can say that, basically, you should apply to a public notary and declare that you want to revoke the power of attorney earlier granted. The public notary will listen to you through a sworn translator (not all sworn translators make correct and satisfactory translation, please make sure that you have a good one) and take the minutes of what you say.

What you say must include: your clear intention to revoke the power of attorney you gave earlier; the name of the person who holds the power of attorney you are revoking; the address of this person. It would be a good idea to provide a copy of the power of attorney so that the public notary can include all the details in this document.

Second, I want to give you some advice for your future transactions. Another way of revoking a power of attorney is to limit it with a deadline, and the power of attorney shall become automatically invalid through expiry. Such a limitation shall save your money and time, as you don’t have to send a notification in order to revoke a power of attorney.

I should also mention at this stage the disadvantage of specifying an expiry date on a power of attorney. It could be that this expiry period is shorter than the period required to complete the transaction in which you are involved and for that reason alone you should be careful to state exactly what you mean and how long you anticipate the transaction will take.