West Virginia: Power of Attorney Requirements

The short answer

West Virginia adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act in 2012, codified at
W. Va. Code §§ 39B-1-101 to 39B-4-403. Under § 39B-1-105, a financial power of
attorney (POA) "must be signed by the principal or in the principal's
conscious presence by another individual directed by the principal to sign
the principal's name on the power of attorney AND must be acknowledged by the
principal before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to
take acknowledgments." Both steps are mandatory — West Virginia is one of the
minority of Uniform Power of Attorney Act states that requires notarization
for validity rather than treating it as optional evidence of genuineness. No
witnesses are required. A West Virginia POA is durable by default — it
survives your later incapacity — unless the document says otherwise
(§ 39B-1-104).

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Financial powers of attorney are governed by the Uniform Power of Attorney
Act, W. Va. Code §§ 39B-1-101 to 39B-4-403, enacted by 2012 W. Va. Acts ch.
199 (HB 4390), effective June 28, 2012. Health care powers of attorney are
addressed separately and are outside this survey's scope.

Who must sign

The principal signs the POA. If the principal cannot sign, another individual
may sign the principal's name instead, but only "in the principal's conscious
presence" and at the principal's direction (§ 39B-1-105).

Notarization

Mandatory — West Virginia departs from the model Uniform Power of Attorney
Act on this point. Section 39B-1-105 requires the signature to "be
acknowledged by the principal before a notary public or other individual
authorized by law to take acknowledgments" as a condition of the document
itself, not merely a presumption-of-genuineness bonus.

Witnesses

None required by the Act. Section 39B-1-105 — West Virginia's execution
section for a financial POA — requires only signature and notary
acknowledgment, nothing more.

Statutory form

Yes, but optional. West Virginia publishes a fill-in-the-blank "Statutory
Form Power of Attorney" at § 39B-3-101: "A document substantially in the
following form may be used to create a statutory form power of attorney that
has the meaning and effect prescribed by this act." Any document that
satisfies § 39B-1-105 is valid without using it.

Durable by default?

Yes. Under § 39B-1-104, a West Virginia POA "is durable unless it expressly
provides that it is terminated by the incapacity of the principal." You opt
out of durability, not into it.

Springing POA allowed?

Yes. A POA "is effective when executed unless the principal provides in the
power of attorney that it becomes effective at a future date or upon the
occurrence of a future event or contingency" (§ 39B-1-109(a)) — typically the
principal's incapacity. The principal may name one or more people to
determine in writing that the event happened (§ 39B-1-109(b)). If no one is
named, or the named person is unwilling or unable, a physician or licensed
psychologist, or an attorney at law, judge, or appropriate government
official, makes that determination instead (§ 39B-1-109(c)).

Real estate extras

The Uniform Power of Attorney Act itself sets no special real-estate-recording
rule. Instead, a power of attorney is recorded the same way any deed or
contract is: the county commission clerk "shall admit the same to record ...
when it shall have been acknowledged by such person or proved by two
witnesses" (§ 39-1-2). Because § 39B-1-105 already requires the POA to be
notarized, it will typically already meet this recording gateway.

Out-of-state POAs

Yes. A POA "executed other than in this state is valid in this state" if its
execution complied with the law of the jurisdiction that governs the POA's
meaning and effect, or with the federal military power-of-attorney statute,
10 U.S.C. § 1044b (§ 39B-1-106(c)).

What trips people up

• Notarization isn't optional here. In most Uniform Power of Attorney Act
  states, skipping the notary just costs a presumption of genuineness. In
  West Virginia, the acknowledgment is baked into the same execution sentence
  as the signature requirement (§ 39B-1-105) — skip it and the document isn't
  validly executed.
• A prior detention or absence from the country isn't itself evidence of
  incapacity. Section 39B-1-106(e) specifically blocks that inference —
  relevant to agents and third parties assessing whether a POA is still
  effective.
• A handful of powers need express, specific wording. West Virginia's
  general authority provisions do not, by themselves, let an agent make
  gifts, change survivorship rights or beneficiary designations, or create,
  amend, or revoke a trust — those require the POA to grant that specific
  authority.
• Durability is the default — read the document carefully if you don't want
  it. Because § 39B-1-104 makes durability automatic, a POA meant to end at
  incapacity must say so explicitly.

Common questions

Do I need to get my West Virginia power of attorney notarized? Yes.
Section 39B-1-105 requires notary acknowledgment as part of valid execution,
not just as an optional extra.

Does my West Virginia POA need witnesses? No. The Uniform Power of
Attorney Act imposes no witness requirement; notarization is the formality
West Virginia relies on instead.

Will an out-of-state power of attorney work in West Virginia? Yes, if it
was validly executed under the law that governs its meaning and effect —
usually the state named in the document, or the state of execution —
§ 39B-1-106(c).

Can I make my POA effective only if I become incapacitated? Yes, that's a
springing POA under § 39B-1-109. Name someone in the document to certify the
incapacity in writing; otherwise a physician, licensed psychologist, attorney,
judge, or government official makes that call instead.

Statutes and sources

All quotations are from the Uniform Power of Attorney Act's 2012 enacting
bill and related West Virginia Code sections, accessed 2026-07-04. The
state's own code.wvlegislature.gov site remained unfetchable this session
(returning unrelated content on every path, including its whole-chapter PDF
route); quotes below trace instead to the signed enrolled bill archived on
wvlegislature.gov itself, and to a web.archive.org snapshot of the one
recording section that predates that bill.

• W. Va. Code § 39B-1-104 — "A power of attorney created under this act
  is durable unless it expressly provides that it is terminated by the
  incapacity of the principal."
  wvlegislature.gov (enrolled H.B. 4390)
• W. Va. Code § 39B-1-105 — "A power of attorney must be signed by the
  principal or in the principal's conscious presence by another individual
  directed by the principal to sign the principal's name on the power of
  attorney and must be acknowledged by the principal before a notary public
  or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments."
  wvlegislature.gov (enrolled H.B. 4390)
• W. Va. Code § 39B-1-106 — "A power of attorney executed other than in
  this state is valid in this state if, when the power of attorney was
  executed, the execution complied with: (1) The law of the jurisdiction that
  determines the meaning and effect of the power of attorney pursuant to
  39B-1-107 of this code; or (2) The requirements for a military power of
  attorney pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 1044b."
  wvlegislature.gov (enrolled H.B. 4390)
• W. Va. Code § 39B-1-109 — "A power of attorney is effective when
  executed unless the principal provides in the power of attorney that it
  becomes effective at a future date or upon the occurrence of a future event
  or contingency."
  wvlegislature.gov (enrolled H.B. 4390)
• W. Va. Code § 39-1-2 — "The clerk of the county commission of any
  county in which any deed, contract, power of attorney, or other writing is
  to be, or may be, recorded, shall admit the same to record in the clerk's
  office ... when it shall have been acknowledged by such person or proved by
  two witnesses."
  web.archive.org (code.wvlegislature.gov snapshot)
• W. Va. Code § 39B-3-101 — "A document substantially in the following
  form may be used to create a statutory form power of attorney that has the
  meaning and effect prescribed by this act."
  wvlegislature.gov (enrolled H.B. 4390)