Power of attorney, health care directive and guardianship in Ohio

Financial power of attorney in Ohio

Law and official form

Law

Uniform Power of Attorney Act

Uniform Power of Attorney Act

Yes (effective March 22, 2012)

Official form

Statutory Form Power of Attorney (R.C. 1337.60)Published by Ohio Legislative Service Commission; Ohio Legal Help also offers a free Financial Power of Attorney form at https://www.ohiolegalhelp.org/topic/financial-poa

You do not have to use it.

You may use a document 'substantially in the following form'; you do not have to. The statutory form ends with a notary acknowledgment block and an 'Important Information for Agent' page. Its eight 'actions requiring express authority' (create a trust; amend, revoke or terminate a trust; make a gift; create or change survivorship rights; create or change a beneficiary designation; delegate authority; waive a joint and survivor annuity right; exercise delegable fiduciary powers) are granted only if expressly authorized and initialed in the Special Instructions. It does not cover health care decisions.

Law: Ohio Rev. Code § 1337.21 (S.B. 117, 129th General Assembly); Ohio Rev. Code § 1337.60

Signing rules

How to sign

The law only requires your signature. If you acknowledge your signature before a notary public, the signature is presumed genuine, which is why the statutory form includes a notary block. A power of attorney used to sign deeds, mortgages, land contracts or leases must be acknowledged and recorded (see real estate).

Who signs

Signed by you (the principal), or by another person you direct to sign your name in your conscious presence.

Notary

Not required

Witnesses

None required

Agent's acknowledgment

No signed acceptance is required. An agent accepts by acting as agent or by other conduct showing acceptance, unless the power of attorney says otherwise.

Law: R.C. 1337.33

Electronic signing

'Sign' in the Act includes an electronic symbol or process, and a power of attorney can be a writing or other record.

Law: R.C. 1337.22(G), (L)

Law: Ohio Rev. Code §§ 1337.25, 1337.04

Durable and springing

Is it durable?

A power of attorney is durable (keeps working if you lose capacity) unless it expressly says it ends when you become incapacitated.

Law: R.C. 1337.24

Durable unless it says otherwise?

Yes: it continues if you lose capacity unless it says otherwise.

Starting later (springing)

A power of attorney works as soon as it is signed unless it says it starts on a later date or event. You can name one or more people to decide in writing that the event happened. If it starts on your incapacity and you named no one (or they will not decide), a physician who examined you or a licensed psychologist who evaluated you can determine incapacity in writing; if you are missing, detained or outside the U.S. and unable to return, an attorney, judge or appropriate government official can.

Law: R.C. 1337.29

What an agent can and cannot do

Needs express permission

• Create, amend, revoke or terminate a trust during your life (for a revocable trust you created, the trust document must also allow the agent to do this)
• Make a gift
• Create or change rights of survivorship
• Create or change a beneficiary designation
• Delegate authority under the power of attorney
• Waive your right to be a beneficiary of a joint and survivor annuity, including a retirement plan survivor benefit
• Exercise fiduciary powers you have authority to delegate

No power of attorney can

Unless the power of attorney says otherwise, an agent who is not your ancestor, spouse or descendant cannot use even express powers to give themselves (or someone they must support) an interest in your property, by gift, survivorship, beneficiary designation or otherwise. The Act does not cover health care decisions.

Law: R.C. 1337.42(B); R.C. 1337.23

Law: Ohio Rev. Code § 1337.42(A)

Agent duties, pay and court review

Agent duties

• Act in line with your reasonable expectations as far as the agent knows them, otherwise in your best interest
• Act in good faith
• Act only within the authority given
• Try to keep your estate plan in place when that is in your best interest
• Act loyally for your benefit and avoid conflicts of interest
• Act with care, competence and diligence
• Keep records of all receipts, payments and transactions
• Cooperate with your health care decision-maker
• When asked by you, a guardian, another fiduciary or a protective agency, disclose receipts and transactions within 30 days (or explain why more time is needed, up to 30 more days)

Agent pay

Unless the power of attorney says otherwise, the agent is entitled to repayment of reasonable expenses and to reasonable compensation.

Law: R.C. 1337.32

Asking a court to review an agent

You, the agent, a guardian or other fiduciary, your health care decision-maker, your spouse, parent or descendant, a presumptive heir, a beneficiary, a protective government agency, your caregiver, or a person asked to accept the power of attorney can ask a court to interpret it or review the agent's conduct. If you have capacity, the court must dismiss the petition at your request.

Law: R.C. 1337.36

Law: Ohio Rev. Code § 1337.34

When it ends and how to revoke it

It ends when

• You die
• You become incapacitated, if the power of attorney is not durable
• You revoke it
• It says it ends (a date or event)
• Its purpose is accomplished
• The agent dies, becomes incapacitated, resigns or has authority revoked, and no other agent is named
• For an agent married to you: an action for divorce, dissolution, annulment or legal separation is filed, unless the power of attorney says otherwise

Divorce ends a spouse's authority

Yes · Divorce rules in Ohio (Divorce Law Map)

How to revoke

You can revoke a power of attorney or an agent's authority. The Uniform Power of Attorney Act does not prescribe a form or method. Signing a new power of attorney does not revoke an older one unless the new one says so.

Telling others

Tell the agent and every bank or business that has a copy. An agent or other person who acts in good faith without actual knowledge of the revocation is protected, and the act binds you.

Law: R.C. 1337.30(D)

If it was recorded

If the power of attorney was recorded for real estate (deeds, mortgages, leases), the revocation is effective only if the revocation document is also recorded in the same county recorder's office.

Law: R.C. 1337.05

Law: Ohio Rev. Code § 1337.30; Ohio Rev. Code §§ 1337.30, 1337.05

Banks, other states and real estate

Banks and other businesses

Ohio's version of the Act does not include the uniform sections that require a business to accept a power of attorney or that penalize refusal. An agent can give a business the optional Agent's Certification form in R.C. 1337.61, signed before a notary. A photocopy or electronically transmitted copy has the same effect as the original.

Law: R.C. 1337.26(D)

Signed in another state

A power of attorney signed outside Ohio is valid in Ohio if its signing followed the law of the state that governs it, or the federal rules for a military power of attorney.

Law: R.C. 1337.26(C)

Real estate

A power of attorney used to sign a deed, mortgage, land installment contract or lease must be signed and acknowledged (notarized) before the real estate document is signed, and recorded in the county recorder's office where the property is located before the real estate document is recorded. Since October 24, 2024 a power of attorney recorded late can be placed of record with a supporting affidavit.

Law: R.C. 1337.04, S.B. 94

Health care directive in Ohio

The document and its form

Document

Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care

Living will

Declaration governing life-sustaining treatment (living will)

The living will is a separate document.

A living will tells your doctors whether to use or withhold life-sustaining treatment if you are terminally ill or permanently unconscious and cannot decide. Sign and date it at the end, then have two adult witnesses sign or acknowledge it before a notary. Witnesses cannot be related to you by blood, marriage or adoption, your attending physician, or the administrator of a nursing home where you receive care. To let doctors stop nutrition and hydration in a permanently unconscious state, the document must say so in conspicuous type and you must initial or sign next to it. It applies only after two physicians confirm your condition and your attending physician finds you can no longer decide.

Living will

Law: Ohio Rev. Code §§ 1337.12, 1337.17; Ohio Rev. Code §§ 2133.02, 2133.03

Signing rules

How to sign

Sign and date the document at the end. Then either have two qualified adult witnesses sign after your signature, or acknowledge it before a notary public.

Who signs

Signed by you at the end of the document, with the date you sign it.

Notary

A notary or witnesses (your choice)

Witnesses

2 (instead of a notary)

Who cannot witness

Witnesses must be adults who see you sign or acknowledge your signature. These people cannot be witnesses: anyone related to you by blood, marriage or adoption, your agent or alternate agent, your attending physician, and the administrator of a nursing home where you receive care. A notary used instead must also attest that you appear to be of sound mind and free of duress, fraud or undue influence.

Nursing facilities and special settings

The administrator of a nursing home where you receive care cannot be a witness.

Law: Ohio Rev. Code § 1337.12(A)-(C)

Who can be your agent and what the agent can do

Who cannot be your agent

Any competent adult, except your attending physician, the administrator of a nursing home where you receive care, or an employee or agent of your attending physician or of a health care facility treating you. Employees can serve if they are your relatives or members of the same religious order as you.

Law: R.C. 1337.12(A)(2)

When the agent starts

The agent makes decisions only after your attending physician determines you have lost the capacity to make informed health care decisions. The document can let the agent get your health information right away. It does not expire unless you set an end date, and it continues past that date while you lack capacity.

Law: R.C. 1337.12, 1337.13

Decisions an agent cannot make

The agent cannot refuse or withdraw life-sustaining treatment unless you are terminally ill or permanently unconscious and the doctors make the required findings; cannot refuse comfort care; cannot refuse care that would end a pregnancy except in limited cases; and can refuse nutrition and hydration in a permanently unconscious state only if you gave that authority in conspicuous (e.g. capital or bold) type and initialed or signed next to it.

Law: R.C. 1337.13(B)-(E)

Revoking and conflicting documents

Revoking your agent

You can revoke the durable power of attorney for health care, or just the naming of the agent, at any time and in any manner. If your attending physician knew about it, the revocation takes effect when it is communicated to the physician by you, a witness to the revocation, or other health care staff. A new valid health care power of attorney revokes an older one unless it says otherwise.

Revoking your instructions

You can revoke a living will at any time and in any manner, with the same rule about telling your attending physician. A later living will revokes an earlier one unless it says otherwise.

Telling others

Once told, the attending physician must put the revocation in your medical record.

Conflicting documents

If you have both a living will and a durable power of attorney for health care, the living will controls where they conflict. A mental health declaration controls over a health care power of attorney for mental health treatment.

Law: R.C. 1337.12(D), 2133.03(B); R.C. 1337.14(D)

Law: Ohio Rev. Code §§ 1337.14, 2133.04

If you have no directive

Who decides without a directive

Ohio's family-consent law covers only withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. It applies if you have no valid living will or health care power of attorney, two physicians find you terminally ill (or permanently unconscious for at least 12 months), and you cannot decide. The consent must be written and witnessed by two eligible witnesses. A spouse in a pending divorce or separation case cannot decide. A tie within a class blocks consent.

• Your guardian
• Your spouse
• A majority of your available adult children
• Your parents
• A majority of your available adult siblings
• The nearest adult relative by blood or adoption

Law: Ohio Rev. Code § 2133.08

Other states, registry and medical orders

Signed in another state

A living will signed under another state's law, in compliance with that law or substantially with Ohio law, is valid in Ohio.

Law: R.C. 2133.14

POLST (medical orders)

Do-Not-Resuscitate Comfort Care (DNRCC) and DNR Comfort Care-Arrest orders (Ohio Department of Health)

Official page

Mental health directive

You can sign a declaration for mental health treatment and name a proxy, who must also sign it. Sign and date it, then have it witnessed by two adults or acknowledged before a notary; a named proxy must also sign the same way or the proxy naming is invalid. Your mental health provider and their relatives or employees, the owner, operator or staff of a facility where you live or are treated (and their relatives), your relatives, and your proxy cannot witness. It lasts three years unless it has become operative, and can be renewed once.

Law: R.C. 2135.02, 2135.03, 2135.06

Law: Ohio Rev. Code §§ 2133.21-2133.26; Ohio Adm. Code 3701-62

Guardianship and conservatorship in Ohio

What guardianship or conservatorship is

What it is called

Guardian of the person, guardian of the estate, guardian of the person and estate; limited guardian; interim guardian (up to 15 days); emergency guardian (up to 72 hours); standby guardian

When a court may appoint one

An adult is 'incompetent' if a mental or physical illness or disability, intellectual disability or chronic substance abuse makes them unable to take proper care of themselves or their property. Incompetency must be proved by clear and convincing evidence at a hearing. Evidence of a less restrictive alternative must be considered if offered, and the court may deny guardianship because one exists.

Law: R.C. 2111.01(D); R.C. 2111.02(C)

Kinds

• Guardian of the person, estate, or both
• Limited guardian with specific powers
• Interim guardian (up to 15 days, extendable up to 30 more)
• Emergency guardian (up to 72 hours)
• Conservatorship chosen by a competent adult who is physically infirm

Law: Ohio Rev. Code §§ 2111.01, 2111.02, 2111.03, 2111.121

Who can ask, which court and your own choice

Who may ask

Any interested party, including someone you nominated in a durable power of attorney or a signed nomination; the probate court can also act on its own motion.

Court

Probate division of the court of common pleas in the county where the adult lives or has a legal settlement.

Choosing your own

You can nominate your future guardian in a financial power of attorney, a health care power of attorney, or a separate writing signed before two witnesses or a notary. The court follows your most recent nomination unless there is good cause or the person is disqualified.

Law: R.C. 1337.28, 1337.12(E), 2111.121

Effect on a power of attorney

Appointing a guardian does not end your power of attorney. The agent must also account to the guardian of the estate, and the court can limit, suspend or end the power of attorney only after notice to the agent and a best-interest finding. The same rule protects a health care power of attorney.

Law: R.C. 1337.28(C), 1337.12(E)(4)

Cost, fee waiver and forms

Filing fee

Set by each county probate court as a deposit at filing. Example: Butler County Probate Court asks $260 (person only) or $280 (estate, or person and estate) at filing, with more costs as the case goes on.

Source: court instructions dated July 2026

Forms

• Form 17.0 Application for Appointment of Guardian of Alleged Incompetent
• Form 17.1 Statement of Expert Evaluation
• Form 17.3 Notice to Prospective Ward of Application and Hearing
• Form 17.4 Notice of Hearing for Appointment of Guardian of Alleged Incompetent
• Form 17.7 Guardian's Report

Steps

Steps

Other options and where to report abuse

Less restrictive options

• Less restrictive alternative to guardianship: The probate court must consider evidence of a less restrictive alternative and may deny a guardianship if one exists.
• Financial power of attorney: You name an agent to handle money and property; it can start now or on incapacity.
• Durable power of attorney for health care and living will: You name a health care agent and write end-of-life wishes.
• Conservatorship for a competent physically infirm adult: An adult who is competent but physically infirm can ask the probate court to appoint a conservator and can end it.

Report abuse or exploitation

Ohio Adult Protective Services (Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, county agencies) · 1-855-644-6277

Call or text the Eldercare Locator to find your local adult protective services: 1-800-677-1116 · eldercare.acl.gov

Good to know in Ohio

• Ohio adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act in 2012 but left out the sections that make banks accept a power of attorney; an optional agent's certification form exists.

  Law: R.C. 1337.61

• If you have both a living will and a health care power of attorney, the living will wins where they conflict.

  Law: R.C. 2133.03(B)

• Since October 24, 2024 a power of attorney used for real estate but recorded late can be placed of record with a supporting affidavit.

  Law: R.C. 1337.04, S.B. 94 of the 135th General Assembly

• Ohio's family-consent rule covers only life-sustaining treatment decisions, not everyday medical decisions.

  Law: R.C. 2133.08

Changes in 2024–2026

S.B. 94 (135th General Assembly) amended R.C. 1337.04 on recording powers of attorney for real estate, effective October 24, 2024. S.B. 35 (136th General Assembly, supported decision-making for adults with developmental disabilities) passed the Senate on October 15, 2025 and was referred to a House committee on October 22, 2025; it is not law.

Questions about powers of attorney in Ohio