Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Power of Attorney

Our son is on our deed, a rental property that we have listed. He lives in Seattle and we live in California. In order to save time in signing real eatate documents, he is willing to give us power of attorney to sign for him. My question is: Does he need to fill out a Seattle form and have it notorized in Seattle? The web site that shows your ad has forms for all states for $15.95. Is this the way to go?


Asked on 5/22/07, 1:18 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: Power of Attorney

My suggestion is to refer your question to the party or entity that will ultimately be asked to accept the power of attorney. In your case, that would probably be an escrow and title company (in Petaluma?). Although you're not yet in escrow, either you or your broker probably has a preference for escrow holder, in which case I would have one of their professionals recommend a form and more likely than not, they would give you a blank form.

The reason is that while there is a national movement toward uniformity in powers of attorney, and to reciprocal acceptance and honoring, it still happens that certain entities like to see a particular familiar form, or even to use their own. If you are using a major firm such as First American, Sonoma Title or Chicago, that's less likely, but to simplify, streamline and avoid possible last-minute glitches, use whatever the accepting-and-honoring firm wants to see. Getting it notarized in Seattle should work just fine, however.

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Answered on 5/22/07, 2:52 pm


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