Power of Attorney Acceptance and Refusal Rules in Texas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Presentation and the first response

An agent with authority under a durable power presents it and asks the person to accept it. Subject to the refusal grounds, that person accepts or requests an agent certification or counsel opinion within ten business days. An applicable English translation request must come within five business days. The agent and recipient may agree to extend those periods (§ 751.201).

For example, a translation requested on time for a power partly written in another language changes the presentation date: the § 751.201(a) clock starts when the requester receives the English translation, not when the foreign language instrument first arrived (§ 751.201(d)).

Supporting material and the second response

The recipient may ask the agent to certify factual matters under penalty of perjury; for an incapacity-triggered power, the certification may include a statement from a physician attending the principal (§ 751.203). A counsel opinion may address a legal matter, but the recipient must give the reason for asking in writing or another record (§ 751.204). An English translation is available for an instrument containing non-English language (§ 751.205).

After a requested certification or opinion arrives, the person generally must accept within seven business days, absent a refusal ground or agreed extension (§ 751.201(b)–(c)). An agent's failure to provide the requested material removes that acceptance duty under § 751.201(e).

Written refusal and court consequence

A refusal normally goes to the presenting agent in writing, with the reasons, by the otherwise-applicable acceptance date. For a refusal under the specified legal-compliance or financial-history grounds, § 751.207(b) allows a signed statement under penalty of perjury naming that statutory category without further explanation (§ 751.207).

The principal or agent acting for the principal may bring the § 751.212 action after the acceptance deadline. If the court finds a violation, it orders acceptance and may award the plaintiff costs and reasonable necessary fees. An action begun after the special § 751.207(b) statement was given must be dismissed; when that statement arrives after a timely action, the statute limits relief to possible costs and fees (§ 751.212(d)–(e)).

What trips people up

A power of attorney does not force a person to undertake a transaction it would not undertake with the principal. Section 751.206(1) expressly includes an attempt to open or expand a customer relationship or buy an unavailable service. Other listed grounds include conflict with state or federal law, actual knowledge of terminated authority, deficient requested material, good-faith authority concerns, and a specified report of suspected abuse (§ 751.206(2), (4)–(6), (9)). The statute supplies the grounds; whether one applies depends on the particular facts.

Common questions

Can a recipient demand its own power-of-attorney form? It cannot demand an additional or different form for authority already granted in the presented instrument. Recording may be demanded only when § 751.151 or another Texas law requires it (§ 751.202).

When is the power considered accepted? On the first day the recipient agrees to act at the agent's direction under the power (§ 751.208).

Statutes and sources

The quoted Texas Estates Code provisions were accessed October 3, 2026.