California durable power of attorney: the Uniform Statutory Form (§4401)

What is the California statutory form power of attorney?

It is a fill-in power of attorney whose wording is written into the law itself. Probate Code §4401 sets out the form, and the Uniform Statutory Form Power of Attorney Act (Probate Code §§4400–4465) explains what each part means.

The person who signs is the principal (§4026). The person chosen to act is the agent. The statute's word for the agent is "attorney-in-fact," which means a person granted authority to act for the principal, not necessarily a lawyer (§4014).

California also accepts powers of attorney on other forms that meet the general rules of §4121 (§4408). The statutory form differs because its wording is fixed by law, each power line is defined in Probate Code §§4450–4463, and §4406 gives the agent a court remedy against an unreasonable refusal.

What is the difference between a durable and a regular power of attorney?

A durable power of attorney keeps working if the principal later becomes incapacitated; a nondurable one ends when the principal becomes unable to contract (Probate Code §4124 and §4155). A power of attorney is durable when it contains one of the statements §4124 lists, or similar words showing the same intent:

This power of attorney shall not be affected by subsequent incapacity of the principal.

This power of attorney shall become effective upon the incapacity of the principal.

The statutory form is durable by default. It prints the lines below, and the principal strikes the middle sentence if the power should end at incapacity (§4404):

UNLESS YOU DIRECT OTHERWISE ABOVE, THIS POWER OF ATTORNEY IS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY AND WILL CONTINUE UNTIL IT IS REVOKED.

This power of attorney will continue to be effective even though I become incapacitated.

STRIKE THE PRECEDING SENTENCE IF YOU DO NOT WANT THIS POWER OF ATTORNEY TO CONTINUE IF YOU BECOME INCAPACITATED.

"General" answers a different question: how broad the powers are, not how long they last. On the statutory form, initialing line (N) grants all the listed powers.

Springing power of attorney in California

A springing power takes effect at a future time or on a named event, such as the principal's later incapacity (§4030). For the statutory form, §4405 lets the principal name one or more people who confirm the event by a written declaration under penalty of perjury; the power takes effect when they sign it, and this provision can go in the form's Special Instructions.

What powers does the California statutory form cover?

The form lists 13 areas of financial authority, lines (A) to (M), plus line (N), which grants all of them. The principal grants a power by writing their initials by hand on its line; a line left blank is withheld.

The powers reach property the principal owns when signing or acquires later, whether or not it is in California (§4464).

Line (J), personal and family maintenance, lets the agent use the principal's property to keep up the customary standard of living of the principal, the principal's spouse, children and others the principal supports, including housing, food, clothing, appropriate education and medical care (§4460). It covers paying for a child's needs from the principal's money; it does not let the agent make decisions about the child.

Some acts need an express grant, which the form's notice says can be added under Special Instructions: creating, changing or revoking a trust, making gifts, changing survivorship interests or beneficiary designations, and lending to the agent (§4465 and §4264). An agent can change or revoke a trust only if the trust instrument expressly permits it (§15401(c)).

Accepting the appointment brings fiduciary duties, among them acting solely in the principal's interest (§4232), keeping the principal's property separate (§4233) and keeping records of every transaction (§4236). An agent who has not agreed in writing to act has no duty to act, but must finish a transaction they start (§4230).

What does a California financial power of attorney not cover?

It does not authorize health care decisions, and it gives no one authority over the principal's children. The form's own notice says: "THIS DOCUMENT DOES NOT AUTHORIZE ANYONE TO MAKE MEDICAL AND OTHER HEALTH-CARE DECISIONS FOR YOU."

Health care decisions belong in an Advance Health Care Directive. California's statutory version is in Probate Code §4701, and the Attorney General publishes a free fillable copy; that form is signed before two qualified witnesses or acknowledged before a notary public.

None of lines (A) to (N) gives authority to decide about a child's care, school enrollment or medical treatment; line (J) only pays for them. Those decisions use separate documents, each with its own signer and limits:

• A Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit is signed by the caregiver, not the parent, and only once the child lives in the caregiver's home. It covers school enrollment and school-related medical care, and other medical and dental care only when the caregiver is a relative (Family Code §6550).
• A medical consent form for a minor under Family Code §6910 is signed by a parent (the statute also allows a guardian or a qualifying relative caregiver). It lets an adult who has the child in their care consent to medical or dental care; it does not transfer custody.
• A nomination of guardian names the person a parent proposes; a court still decides whether to appoint a guardian.

The family preparedness plan guide shows where a financial power of attorney sits next to those documents when a family plans for a parent's possible absence.

Does a power of attorney need to be notarized in California?

For the statutory form, yes. Probate Code §4402 makes it legally sufficient when its wording substantially follows §4401, it is properly completed, and the principal's signature is acknowledged, which is the identity-and-signature check a notary public performs.

California has two levels of rules. For powers of attorney in general, §4121 requires a date, the principal's signature, and either acknowledgment before a notary public or the signatures of two adult witnesses who meet §4122 (the agent cannot be a witness). The statutory form has its own rule on top of that: §4402(c) calls for an acknowledged signature, and the two-witness option is not part of it.

To take an acknowledgment, a California notary public needs satisfactory evidence of the signer's identity (Civil Code §1185). Besides a California driver license or ID card and a U.S. passport, the list includes a valid consular identification document issued by a consulate of the signer's country of citizenship, or a valid passport from that country, if the document is current or was issued within five years and shows a photograph, a description, the signer's signature and a serial or other identifying number.

Government Code §8211(a) caps a California notary's fee for an acknowledgment at $15 per signature. A copy certified by a California notary public or by an attorney licensed in California has the same effect as the original power of attorney (Probate Code §4307); the notary fee for that certification is capped at $15 (§8211(e)).

Can I make a power of attorney in California without a lawyer?

The conditions the statute sets for the statutory form are its wording, proper completion and an acknowledged signature (§4402); review by a lawyer is not one of them, and other forms that meet the general rules are also allowed (§4408). The form's notice adds: "IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THESE POWERS, OBTAIN COMPETENT LEGAL ADVICE." Wording matters most for gifts, trusts, beneficiary designations and loans to the agent, which need an express grant (§4264). LawHelpCA helps find legal aid organizations nearby, and the Sacramento County Public Law Library lists self-help books.

How long does a power of attorney last in California, and how is it revoked?

Unless the principal writes otherwise, the statutory form takes effect immediately and continues until it is revoked. Time alone does not end it: a power of attorney that states no time of termination can be used regardless of how long ago it was signed (§4127).

Authority also ends on the events in §4152, including revocation, the principal's death and the agent's death, resignation, removal or incapacity (a temporary incapacity only suspends the agent's authority while it lasts). A divorce or annulment between principal and agent revokes the former spouse's appointment (§4154), and a nondurable power ends when the principal becomes unable to contract (§4155).

The principal may revoke the power of attorney by a writing (§4151) and may revoke the agent's authority by telling the agent, orally or in writing (§4153); the document cannot take away either right. Banks and other third parties are a separate step, because the form says:

Revocation of the power of attorney is not effective as to a third party until the third party has actual knowledge of the revocation.

An agent or third person without notice of a revocation is protected as provided in Probate Code §4300 and following (§4151(b)). If the power of attorney was recorded for real property, Civil Code §1216 says a revocation affects that recorded power only when the revocation is also acknowledged (or proved), certified and recorded in the same office.

What changes in the California statutory form on January 1, 2027?

AB 2199 (Statutes of 2026, chapter 47), approved by the Governor on June 30, 2026, repeals the current §4401 and adds a new statutory form. A regular-session statute takes effect on January 1 after a 90-day period from enactment (California Constitution, article IV, §8(c)), so the new form applies from January 1, 2027. The new form:

• lets the principal name a successor agent and check whether the successor steps in when any agent, or only when all agents, are unable or unwilling to act;
• replaces the "jointly / separately" blank with two checkboxes; if neither is marked, all agents must act or sign together;
• adds lines (O) to (Q) for digital assets and electronic communications, with meanings from the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (new §4466);
• adds an optional checkbox nominating the agent or agents as conservator of the principal's estate if a court needs to appoint one;
• adds a "Notice to third parties" stating that the power of attorney is enforceable under Probate Code §4406.

The new form keeps the durability sentence, and AB 2199 does not amend §4402, so it also needs an acknowledged signature (its text calls for a notary public's certificate of acknowledgment under Civil Code §1189 or other applicable law). The bill has no separate provision about powers of attorney already signed on the earlier form; a question about a specific signed document is one for an attorney. RightForms' PDF currently prints the form in effect through December 31, 2026, with a note to sign and notarize it on or before that date.

Can a California power of attorney be used in Mexico or another country?

Whether an office in another country accepts this California form is decided under that country's rules; the form's powers reach property wherever it is located (§4464), but a bank, registry or court abroad applies its own requirements. For use outside the United States, the California Secretary of State issues an apostille, whatever the destination country, for original documents notarized in California; the destination country's consulate can say what it accepts.

A power of attorney made at a Mexican consulate is a different document, governed by Mexican law. Under Mexico's Ley del Servicio Exterior Mexicano (article 44, section IV), heads of Mexican consular offices perform notarial functions for acts and contracts made abroad that are to be carried out in Mexico; the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles lists general and special powers of attorney among those acts and says they must be meant to take effect in Mexico.

How do you fill out a California durable power of attorney form?

1. The principal's and each agent's name and address go in the opening blanks.
2. The principal initials by hand line (N) to grant every listed power, or the line of each power being granted; lines left blank are withheld.
3. The Special Instructions hold any limits, extensions, a springing condition, or the express grants that §4264 requires.
4. The durability sentence stays in for a durable power and is struck for a power that ends at incapacity.
5. With more than one agent, the word "SEPARATELY" in the blank lets each agent act alone; a blank or "JOINTLY" means all agents must act or sign together.
6. The principal dates and signs the form, and a notary public takes the acknowledgment and completes the certificate. The agent receives the original or a certified copy (§4307).

RightForms prepares this form from a questionnaire in English, Spanish or Russian and produces a filled English PDF; the initials, the signature and the notarization stay on paper. How RightForms works explains the software and what it does not do.

What this page does not answer

This page does not answer questions about:

• children: custody orders, existing family or juvenile court cases, a parent who disagrees, and school or special-education decisions;
• the principal's own health care decisions, which an Advance Health Care Directive covers;
• a principal who may already lack the capacity to sign, or a conservatorship (see the courts' page on options for helping someone);
• real estate, trusts, business interests, taxes or public benefits in a particular family's situation;
• powers of attorney under the law of another state or country, and immigration matters.

The California courts' self-help site, selfhelp.courts.ca.gov, has sections on child custody, guardianship, juvenile dependency and conservatorship, and LawHelpCA, maintained by the Legal Aid Association of California, helps find legal aid nearby.