Louisiana: Power of Attorney Requirements

The short answer

Louisiana is the one state that never adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney
Act, because it is not a common-law state at all: Louisiana's private law is
based on the Napoleonic civil-law tradition. What every other state calls a
"power of attorney," Louisiana's Civil Code calls a mandate (also called a
procuration) — "a contract by which a person, the principal, confers
authority on another person, the mandatary, to transact one or more affairs
for the principal" (art. 2989). It lives in Title XV of the Civil Code (arts.
2989-3034) and is governed by ordinary contract law, not a specialized
execution statute.

That has real consequences for formalities. A mandate "is not required to be
in any particular form" (art. 2993) — no signature ceremony, no witnesses, no
notary, as a general matter. The exception swallows a lot of practical cases,
though: "when the law prescribes a certain form for an act, a mandate
authorizing the act must be in that form" (art. 2993). The most common
trigger is real estate — a mandate authorizing the sale, purchase, or
mortgage of immovable property must itself be an authentic act (notarized,
before two witnesses) or an act under private signature (art. 1839).

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Louisiana's mandate law is Title XV of the Civil Code, arts. 2989 through
3034. It has no relationship to the UPOAA adopted by most other states;
Louisiana's rules on mandate long predate that uniform act and derive instead
from Louisiana's own civil-law tradition. "A mandate is a contract by which a
person, the principal, confers authority on another person, the mandatary, to
transact one or more affairs for the principal" (art. 2989).

Who must sign

There is no mandate-specific signature article, because a mandate as a
contract "is not required to be in any particular form" (art. 2993) — in
principle, even an oral mandate is possible. In practice, nearly every mandate
is written and signed so its terms can be proven. The one hard rule: if the
mandate authorizes an act the law requires to be done in a specific form —
above all, transferring immovable property — the mandate itself must be
executed in that same form (art. 2993), which for immovable property means
signed as an authentic act or an act under private signature (art. 1839).

Notarization

Not required for an ordinary mandate. It becomes necessary only when the
authorized act demands an authentic act, most commonly a mandate to sell,
buy, or mortgage real estate. An authentic act "is a writing executed before
a notary public or other officer authorized to perform that function, in the
presence of two witnesses, and signed by each party who executed it, by each
witness, and by each notary public before whom it was executed" (art. 1833).
The alternative for a real-estate mandate, an act under private signature,
does not require a notary at signing, though it can later be formally
acknowledged.

Witnesses

None for an ordinary mandate. Two witnesses are required only as part of the
authentic-act formality under art. 1833 — meaning they matter for a real
estate mandate (art. 1839), not for a mandate in general.

Statutory form

No. Louisiana does not publish an optional fill-in mandate or power-of-attorney
form. The mandate is a creature of general contract law; any document that
satisfies the applicable form requirement — none, for an ordinary mandate, or
the authentic-act/private-signature form for a real estate mandate — is valid.

Durable by default?

Yes, and Louisiana does not frame it as an opt-in feature the way UPOAA
states do. Under art. 3026, "in the absence of contrary agreement, neither the
contract nor the authority of the mandatary is terminated by the principal's
incapacity, disability, or other condition that makes an express revocation
of the mandate impossible or impractical." A mandate keeps working through
incapacity unless the parties have agreed otherwise. Separately, art. 3024
lists what does end a mandate: the death of the principal or mandatary, the
interdiction (Louisiana's term for a court finding of incapacity with a
curator appointed) of the mandatary, or the qualification of a curator after
the principal's own interdiction.

Springing POA allowed?

Louisiana's mandate articles do not include a dedicated springing-power
mechanism or an incapacity-determination procedure the way UPOAA states do.
Instead, the general Civil Code rule on conditional obligations applies: "a
conditional obligation is one dependent on an uncertain event. If the
obligation may not be enforced until the uncertain event occurs, the
condition is suspensive" (art. 1767). A mandate can be drafted to take effect
only once a stated event occurs, using this general contract-law mechanism,
but there is no mandate-specific statute spelling out who determines that the
event — such as incapacity — has happened.

Real estate extras

A mandate used to sell, buy, exchange, or mortgage immovable property must
itself be executed in the same form the law requires for that transfer: an
authentic act or an act under private signature (art. 1839). Beyond
execution, recording matters too: "an instrument involving immovable property
shall have effect against third persons only from the time it is filed for
registry in the parish where the property is located" (art. 1839) — meaning
an unrecorded mandate-authorized transaction can be valid between the parties
but ineffective against later purchasers or creditors who had no notice of
it. Separately, some kinds of authority — including the authority to
"alienate, acquire, encumber, or lease a thing" — must be given expressly in
the mandate; general authority is not enough (art. 2996).

Out-of-state POAs

Louisiana's mandate title has no choice-of-law provision naming which
jurisdiction's law governs an out-of-state power of attorney's validity;
that question falls under the Civil Code's general conflict-of-laws rules in
Book IV. Separately, Louisiana gives practical protection at the banking
level: a federally insured financial institution presented with a power of
attorney, procuration, or mandate sufficient to authorize transactions on a
deposit account or safe deposit box "may rely on the authority designated ...
as being in full force and effect" unless it has received written notice that
the document was revoked, modified, or terminated (La. R.S. § 6:311.1). That
statute does not distinguish between in-state and out-of-state documents.

What trips people up

• "No form required" does not mean no form ever matters. The general rule
  in art. 2993 is permissive, but the moment the mandate authorizes something
  like a real estate sale, the authentic-act or private-signature formality in
  art. 1839 kicks in and the general rule no longer helps.
• Louisiana calls it something else. Banks, title companies, and even some
  lawyers outside Louisiana may not recognize "mandate" or "procuration" —
  bring a copy of the relevant Civil Code articles if a document drafted for
  Louisiana needs to be explained to an out-of-state institution.
• Some authority must be spelled out expressly. General authority to "do
  whatever is appropriate under the circumstances" does not cover alienating,
  acquiring, encumbering, or leasing property (art. 2996), or the list in art.
  2997 (donations, accepting or renouncing a succession, loans, negotiable
  instruments, compromises, health care decisions, or limiting a person's
  contact with relatives). Leaving these out of the document means the
  mandatary cannot do them, even under a "general" mandate.
• Unrecorded real estate mandates can bite third parties. A validly
  executed but unrecorded mandate-authorized transfer of immovable property
  is good between the parties but has no effect against later purchasers or
  creditors under art. 1839 until it is filed for registry in the right
  parish.

Common questions

Does Louisiana call this a "power of attorney"? People commonly use that
term, but the Civil Code calls it a mandate or procuration (art. 2989); the
person given authority is the mandatary.

Do I need a notary or witnesses for a Louisiana power of attorney? Not for
an ordinary mandate (art. 2993). You need an authentic act — a notary and two
witnesses — only if the mandate authorizes something the law requires be done
in that form, most commonly transferring or mortgaging real estate (arts.
1833, 1839).

Is my Louisiana power of attorney automatically durable? Yes. Under art.
3026, your incapacity does not end the mandate unless you and your mandatary
agreed otherwise.

Can I make my Louisiana power of attorney effective only if I become
incapacitated? Louisiana has no dedicated springing-power statute, but the
general rule on suspensive conditions (art. 1767) lets a mandate be drafted to
take effect only once a stated future event occurs. Because there is no
mandate-specific procedure for proving the event happened, be specific in the
document about how that will be established.

Statutes and sources

All quotations are from the official Louisiana State Legislature website
(legis.la.gov), cross-checked against the Justia mirror of the 2025 Louisiana
Laws, accessed 2026-07-04.

• La. Civ. Code art. 2989 — "A mandate is a contract by which a person,
  the principal, confers authority on another person, the mandatary, to
  transact one or more affairs for the principal."
  View official text (legis.la.gov)
• La. Civ. Code art. 2993 — "The contract of mandate is not required to
  be in any particular form. Nevertheless, when the law prescribes a certain
  form for an act, a mandate authorizing the act must be in that form."
  View official text (legis.la.gov)
• La. Civ. Code art. 1839 — "A transfer of immovable property must be
  made by authentic act or by act under private signature. ... An instrument
  involving immovable property shall have effect against third persons only
  from the time it is filed for registry in the parish where the property is
  located."
  View official text (legis.la.gov)
• La. Civ. Code art. 1833 — "An authentic act is a writing executed
  before a notary public or other officer authorized to perform that
  function, in the presence of two witnesses, and signed by each party who
  executed it, by each witness, and by each notary public before whom it was
  executed."
  View official text (legis.la.gov)
• La. Civ. Code art. 2996 — "The authority to alienate, acquire,
  encumber, or lease a thing must be given expressly. Neither the property
  nor its location need be specifically described."
  View official text (legis.la.gov)
• La. Civ. Code art. 2997 — "Authority also must be given expressly to:
  (1) Make an inter vivos donation ...; (2) Accept or renounce a succession;
  (3) Contract a loan, acknowledge or make remission of a debt, or become a
  surety; (4) Draw or endorse promissory notes and negotiable instruments; (5)
  Enter into a compromise or refer a matter to arbitration; (6) Make health
  care decisions ...; (7) Prevent or limit reasonable communication,
  visitation, or interaction between the principal and a relative ...."
  View official text (legis.la.gov)
• La. Civ. Code art. 3024 — "[B]oth the mandate and the authority of the
  mandatary terminate upon the: (1) Death of the principal or of the
  mandatary. (2) Interdiction of the mandatary. (3) Qualification of the
  curator after the interdiction of the principal."
  View official text (legis.la.gov)
• La. Civ. Code art. 3026 — "In the absence of contrary agreement,
  neither the contract nor the authority of the mandatary is terminated by
  the principal's incapacity, disability, or other condition that makes an
  express revocation of the mandate impossible or impractical."
  View official text (legis.la.gov)
• La. Civ. Code art. 1767 — "A conditional obligation is one dependent on
  an uncertain event. If the obligation may not be enforced until the
  uncertain event occurs, the condition is suspensive."
  View official text (legis.la.gov)
• La. R.S. § 6:311.1 — "[A]ny federally insured financial institution
  presented with an original or certified true copy of a power of attorney,
  procuration, or mandate ... may rely on the authority designated in the
  power of attorney, procuration, or mandate as being in full force and
  effect, unless an officer of the federally insured financial institution
  receives written notice that [it] has been revoked, modified, or
  terminated, and the institution has had reasonable opportunity to act on
  it."
  View official text (legis.la.gov)