Durable vs springing power of attorney

Durable means a power of attorney keeps working if you can no longer decide. Springing means it starts only later. Your state decides the default.

This guide explains the law in general. It does not prepare documents or tell you whether a document is valid.

Two ideas: durable and springing

In some states this kind of document is called a durable power of attorney. Your state's page says whether a power of attorney keeps working if you can no longer make decisions.

Source: CFPB, Managing Someone Else's Money: Help for agents under a power of attorney · Official text

A power of attorney can also start right away or only later, when something happens. Your document and your state’s law say which. This is sometimes called springing.

Check when it starts

Your authority is strictly limited to what the document and state law allow. Check when the power of attorney becomes effective: it may be right away or only when the principal can no longer make decisions.

Source: CFPB, Managing Someone Else's Money: Help for agents under a power of attorney · Official text

You stay in control

You can still manage your own money and property after you sign a power of attorney, as long as you are able to make decisions. You can take away (revoke) the agent's authority at any time while you are able to make decisions. If you do, tell the people and businesses the agent was dealing with.

Source: CFPB, Managing Someone Else's Money: Help for agents under a power of attorney · Official text

The words

A power of attorney is a legal document that gives someone you choose legal authority to make decisions about your money or property, for example if you are sick or injured. You are the principal. The person you choose is the agent, also called an attorney-in-fact.

Source: CFPB, Managing Someone Else's Money: Help for agents under a power of attorney · Official text

Keep the papers safe

Keep the signed documents in a safe place and give copies to your health care proxy and your doctors. Some states have registries that store an advance directive for doctors and your proxy.

Source: National Institute on Aging, Advance Care Planning: Advance Directives for Health Care · Official text

What the states say

26 of 41 states we cover treat a power of attorney as durable unless it says otherwise.

In 15 states the document must say that it continues after you lose capacity, for example: see the table (15 states).

Power of attorney signing rules by state

What to look for on your state’s page

  • “Durable and springing” on your state’s page: the rule on whether the document continues after incapacity.
  • “Is it durable?” and “Durable unless it says otherwise?”: whether the document must say so in words.
  • “Starting later (springing)”: who decides that the event has happened, if your state says.
  • “It ends when”: whether losing capacity ends a document that is not durable.
  • The Law line under each part, with the section of the state’s code.

Questions to ask a lawyer or legal aid office

A lawyer or a legal aid office can answer these. This site cannot advise you.

  • Should my document say in words that it continues after I lose capacity?
  • Should it start right away, or only when something happens, and who decides that it has happened?
  • How will banks in my state treat a document that starts later?
  • What happens if I move to another state?

Free help

  • Legal Services Corporation (LSC) - Find legal aid LSC was set up by Congress and funds 129 independent nonprofit legal aid organizations in every state, D.C. and the U.S. territories for people with low incomes. For a civil legal problem, enter an address or city to find one near you.
  • LawHelp.org Look up information about your legal question and find free legal forms.
  • Eldercare Locator (Area Agencies on Aging) · 1-800-677-1116 A public service of the federal Administration for Community Living that connects older adults and families with local services. You can call, text, chat online or email. For help planning advance directives, the National Institute on Aging suggests contacting your local Area Agency on Aging.
  • CFPB guides for financial caregivers Free plain-language guides for agents under a power of attorney, court-appointed guardians and conservators, trustees, and Social Security or VA payees.

Pick your state

Your state's page has the form, the signing rules and the law for your state.

Pick your state

Free tools: the signing checklist and the letters to revoke a power of attorney or a health care directive are on each state's page.

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