Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Limited Power of Attorney Laws

Powers of Attorney (in California) are covered by the Probate Code, Division 4.5, Sections 4000 et seq. - You can find it on line or at a local law library. I think many general libraries also have sets of California codes.

In most cases, a power of attorney can either be notarized ("acknowledged before a notary public") or signed by at least two witnesses meeting certain statutory requirements -- see Probate Code sections 4121 and 4122.

Whether a power of attorney is considered "limited" or "general" depends upon the contents, wording, limitations, etc. expressed within the instrument itself. Therefore, some limited powers of attorney may in fact be fairly broad, while others are very highly limited. See Probate Code sections 4261 and 4262, for example, and also at the initial-the-box format of the Uniform Statutory Form Power of Attorney discussed and shown at Probate Cde sections 4400-4403.