Special offer

Power of Attorney acknowledgements

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Mobile Notary Services

A notary signing agent asked a question on a message board this morning about Power of Attorney notarizations, and was chastised by several other notary signing agents for asking the question.

They felt that the notary signing agent should have been able to answer the question on his or her own.  And they are right.

Notary laws vary from state to state.  So there is no point in a notary from one state asking a notary in a different state how to do a notarization properly.  It really depends on the notary's state laws.

Another problem with the question is that, there are two things to consider when a signer is signing with Power of Attorney.  The lender will give specific instructions in the closing instructions as to how they want the signer to sign.  For example:

lender instructions for power of attorney

So not only does the notary signing agent want to check their state notary laws, they also want to find out what the lender requirements are for Power of Attorney.

For Colorado notaries, Power of Attorney acknowledgement forms are covered in CRS 12-55-208 (1)(d). Short forms of acknowledgement.

12-55-208 (1)(d) For an individual acting as principal by an attorney in fact.

For example:

State of Colorado
County of El Paso

The foregoing instrument was acknowledged before me this April 30, 2009 by Jane E. Borrower as attorney in fact on behalf of John E. Borrower.

______________________
(Sal E. Notary)

There are also pre-printed acknowledgement forms that are acceptable.  This is a scaled-down sample of an Attorney in Fact Acknowledgement:

power of attorney notary acknowledgement


There is a section at the bottom for the notary to write in the details about the document, and to get a thumbprint from the signer.

Comments(3)