Mississippi: Power of Attorney Requirements

The short answer

Mississippi is an outlier among the states surveyed here: it never adopted the
modern (2006) Uniform Power of Attorney Act that most other states use.
Financial powers of attorney are still governed by the older Uniform Durable
Power of Attorney Act, Miss. Code Ann. §§ 87-3-101 to 87-3-113 (enacted 1994),
plus a separate set of general provisions on execution and recording, §§ 87-3-1
to 87-3-17, that predate even that. Neither set of sections prescribes a
signing ceremony: a "letter of attorney to transact any business need only
express plainly the authority conferred" (§ 87-3-7(1)). No notary and no
witnesses are required for the document to be valid between principal and
agent. What Mississippi does require, unlike most states, is specific wording
for durability: the writing must contain the statutory trigger language or the
agent's authority ends the moment you lose capacity (§ 87-3-105).

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Mississippi's financial-POA statute is the Uniform Durable Power of Attorney
Act, Miss. Code Ann. §§ 87-3-101 to 87-3-113, enacted by Laws 1994, ch. 336 and
cited by its own short-title section as "the 'Uniform Durable Power of Attorney
Act'" (§ 87-3-101). This is the 1979 National Conference of Commissioners
model act, not the newer Uniform Power of Attorney Act that most other states
have since adopted; bills to replace it with the modern act have been
introduced repeatedly (2018, 2019, and again in 2026) and have died in
committee every time. A second, older set of general provisions on the
execution, form, and recording of any letter of attorney sits at §§ 87-3-1 to
87-3-17. Healthcare powers of attorney are governed by a separate statute, the
Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act, and are outside this survey's scope.

Who must sign

The Act does not prescribe who signs or how. The only formality requirement in
the whole chapter is that "a letter of attorney to transact any business need
only express plainly the authority conferred" (§ 87-3-7(1)) — a low bar
focused on clarity of the grant, not on signature mechanics.

Notarization

Not required by statute. Section 87-3-1 makes acknowledgment before a notary
or other officer permissive, not mandatory: a letter of attorney "may be
acknowledged or proved as conveyances of land are required to be ... and ...
may be recorded in like manner." Notarization becomes practically necessary
the moment you need the document recorded (see Real estate extras) or accepted
by a bank, since institutions routinely decline to rely on an unnotarized POA
even though the statute does not require one.

Witnesses

None required by statute. Neither the Uniform Durable Power of Attorney Act
sections nor the older general provisions mention witnesses for a financial
power of attorney.

Statutory form

No. Mississippi does not publish an optional fill-in form for a financial
power of attorney (unlike states that adopted the modern UPOAA, which
typically include one). A Mississippi POA is drafted to the principal's
situation rather than filled in from a government template.

Durable by default?

No — and this is where Mississippi departs most sharply from the newer UPOAA
states surveyed elsewhere in this comparison. A power of attorney is durable
only if "the writing contains the words 'This power of attorney shall not be
affected by subsequent disability or incapacity of the principal, or lapse of
time,' or 'This power of attorney shall become effective upon the disability
or incapacity of the principal,' or similar words showing the intent of the
principal that the authority conferred shall be exercisable notwithstanding the
principal's subsequent disability or incapacity" (§ 87-3-105). Leave that
language out, and the agent's authority ends the moment the principal loses
capacity — exactly when most people need the document to keep working.

Springing POA allowed?

Yes, but only through the durability definition itself, not a separate
provision. Section 87-3-105 treats "This power of attorney shall become
effective upon the disability or incapacity of the principal" as one of the
two alternative phrasings that qualifies a POA as durable — so the same
sentence that grants durability can also delay the agent's authority until
incapacity. The Act does not otherwise let a POA become effective at an
arbitrary future date or on some other future event; the only recognized
trigger is the principal's disability or incapacity, and the Act does not
specify how that incapacity is determined (compare states with a
physician-certification mechanism written into their statute).

Real estate extras

A "letter of attorney intended to be used in this state may be acknowledged or
proved as conveyances of land are required to be, and, when so acknowledged or
proved, may be recorded in like manner" (§ 87-3-1). If it is, a "conveyance ...
executed by an attorney in fact for his principal, and duly acknowledged or
proved, shall have the same force and effect as if executed and acknowledged
by the principal" (§ 87-3-3). In practice, this means a POA that will be used
to sign a deed needs to be acknowledged before a notary or other authorized
officer and recorded with the chancery clerk in the county where the land
sits — even though nothing in the Act makes that acknowledgment mandatory for
the POA's basic validity.

Out-of-state POAs

Mississippi's statute does not address this directly. Unlike the modern UPOAA
(adopted by many other states), the Uniform Durable Power of Attorney Act
contains no section on recognizing a power of attorney validly executed under
another state's law. Whether an out-of-state POA will be honored in Mississippi
is left to general conflict-of-laws principles rather than a POA-specific
statutory rule.

What trips people up

• No default durability. Because § 87-3-105 requires specific language,
  a plain power of attorney without the statutory phrases (or "similar words")
  automatically ends at incapacity.
• Some guides wrongly describe Mississippi as a modern-UPOAA state.
  Several bar-association and legal-form websites state that Mississippi
  requires notarization or has adopted the 2006 Uniform Power of Attorney Act.
  Neither is accurate under the current statute; bills to adopt that act have
  died in committee every time they've been introduced, most recently in 2026.
• No notary, no recording. A validly executed but unnotarized POA works
  fine for everyday business, but it cannot be used to convey real estate
  until it is acknowledged and recorded (§§ 87-3-1, 87-3-3).
• No statutory list of "hot powers." Because the Act does not enumerate
  powers that need express authorization (unlike modern-UPOAA states), any
  authority you want your agent to have — gifting, trust changes, and the
  like — should be spelled out plainly in the document itself.

Common questions

Do I need to notarize my Mississippi power of attorney? Not for basic
validity — § 87-3-1 makes acknowledgment optional. Notarize it anyway if a
bank might rely on it or if it will ever be used to convey real estate, since
recording requires acknowledgment.

Is my Mississippi power of attorney durable automatically? No. It survives
your incapacity only if it contains the statutory language from § 87-3-105 or
"similar words" showing that intent.

Can I make my power of attorney effective only if I become incapacitated?
Yes — use the alternative statutory phrase in § 87-3-105 ("shall become
effective upon the disability or incapacity of the principal"). The Act does
not specify a certification mechanism for determining incapacity, so it's
worth addressing in the document itself.

Will my out-of-state power of attorney work in Mississippi? Mississippi's
statute doesn't say either way; it has no rule like the one many other states
have adopted. Whether it's honored depends on general conflict-of-laws
principles rather than a specific Mississippi statute.

Statutes and sources

All quotations are from the Mississippi Code of 1972 as currently published;
Mississippi's official Lexis-hosted code portal blocked fetching this session,
so text was cross-checked across Justia's 2010, 2020, and 2024 annual code
editions (identical in each), accessed 2026-07-04.

• Miss. Code § 87-3-101 — "Sections 87-3-101 through 87-3-113 may be cited
  as the 'Uniform Durable Power of Attorney Act.'"
  View source text (law.justia.com)
• Miss. Code § 87-3-105 — "A durable power of attorney is a power of
  attorney by which a principal designates another his attorney in fact in
  writing and the writing contains the words 'This power of attorney shall not
  be affected by subsequent disability or incapacity of the principal, or
  lapse of time,' or 'This power of attorney shall become effective upon the
  disability or incapacity of the principal,' or similar words..."
  View source text (law.justia.com)
• Miss. Code § 87-3-1 — "All letters of attorney intended to be used in
  this state may be acknowledged or proved as conveyances of land are required
  to be, and, when so acknowledged or proved, may be recorded in like manner."
  View source text (law.justia.com)
• Miss. Code § 87-3-3 — "Conveyances of land, or contracts relating
  thereto, executed by an attorney in fact for his principal, and duly
  acknowledged or proved, shall have the same force and effect as if executed
  and acknowledged by the principal."
  View source text (law.justia.com)
• Miss. Code § 87-3-7 — "(1) A letter of attorney to transact any business
  need only express plainly the authority conferred."
  View source text (law.justia.com)