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A North Dakota power of attorney is a signed document naming your agent. This page offers North Dakota forms for money, health care, children, real estate, taxes and vehicles. The forms suit adults planning for illness, travel or a single task they cannot attend.
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Each North Dakota power of attorney form below covers one job, from managing money to making health care choices or handling a vehicle title. Read the short description and check the Signing Requirements row. The table under "Match the Form to the Task" helps if two entries look alike.
Durable power of attorney names an agent whose authority continues if you become disabled or incapacitated. Under N.D. Cent. Code 30.1-30-01, the form is durable when it contains words such as "This power of attorney is not affected by subsequent disability or incapacity of the principal or by lapse of time," or similar words showing that intent. The agent can then handle your finances and estate while you cannot.
| Also Known As | North Dakota DPOA |
| Signing Requirements | No Statute; the State-Offered Form Requires Notarization |
| Download | PDF Template |
Medical power of attorney form in North Dakota is officially called the Health Care Directive. With the document, you can designate an individual who will be in charge of decisions regarding your treatment if you ever cannot make them on your own (for instance, if you face a coma).
| Also Known As | Health Care POA or MPOA |
| Signing Requirements | Notary Public or Two (2) Witnesses |
| Download | PDF Template | North Dakota Health Care Directive (Page 6) |
General power of attorney lets you trust your spouse, child or anyone else with your funds and property. A general form without durable wording ends on the principal's death or incapacity to contract, unless the power is coupled with an interest in the subject of the agency (N.D. Cent. Code § 3-01-11). In North Dakota, there is a general durable POA form offered by the state (you can select in the form when it should be considered enforceable).
| Also Known As | Generic Financial POA |
| Signing Requirements | No Statute; the State-Offered Form Requires Notarization |
| Download | PDF Template | North Dakota General Durable Power of Attorney Form |
Limited power of attorney hands your agent one authority for a set time. The form fits an urgent matter you cannot handle because you are away. The agent acts in your place only for the task the form names.
| Also Known As | Special POA |
| Signing Requirements | Notarization Is Advised |
| Download | PDF Template |
Child power of attorney in North Dakota is also known as the Power of Attorney for Care and Custody of Minor Child(ren) Form. The form lets a parent or guardian delegate powers over the care, custody or property of a minor child or ward for a period not exceeding six months (N.D.C.C. § 30.1-26-04).
| Also Known As | Minor POA |
| Signing Requirements | Notary Public |
| Download | PDF Template | North Dakota Instructions for the POA for Care and Custody of Minor Child(ren) |
Real estate power of attorney lets a property owner name an agent to sell, lease, rent or handle other operations with the property in the owner's place.
| Also Known As | Limited Real Estate POA |
| Signing Requirements | Notarization Is Advised |
| Download | PDF Template |
State tax power of attorney is Form 500 in North Dakota.
| Also Known As | Tax POA |
| Signing Requirements | As printed in the signature block of Form 500 |
| Download | Form 500 |
Vehicle power of attorney lets you choose an individual who will be able to apply to the North Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT) and get a title for your vehicle, register it, or go through some other procedures instead of you.
| Also Known As | DMV POA |
| Signing Requirements | As printed in the signature block of the DOT form |
| Download | PDF Template |
Revocation power of attorney is drafted anytime a principal decides to revoke their POA form. The revocation ends the agent's power as to every person having notice of it, unless the power is coupled with an interest in the subject of the agency (N.D. Cent. Code § 3-01-11).
| Also Known As | POA Termination Form |
| Signing Requirements | Notarization Is Advised |
| Download | PDF Template |
Other North Dakota Forms
A North Dakota power of attorney comes from a form the principal fills in and signs: the form for the task, the agent's name, the powers granted and a signature made the way the form's entry above directs.
The right North Dakota power of attorney depends on what you want your agent to do. Match your goal to a document in the table below, then open its entry in the list above.
| If you want to | Look at |
|---|---|
| Manage your money and property if you become unable to do it yourself | Durable financial power of attorney |
| Name a person to make treatment decisions if you cannot make them yourself | Medical power of attorney (Health Care Directive) |
| Let someone handle your money and property in general | General power of attorney |
| Hand off one task or a short period of time | Limited power of attorney |
| Arrange care for your children while you are away | Child power of attorney |
| Let someone buy, sell or lease property for you | Real estate power of attorney |
| Let someone handle your tax matters | State tax power of attorney (Form 500) |
| Let someone handle title and registration paperwork for a vehicle | Vehicle power of attorney |
| Cancel a power of attorney you already signed | Revocation power of attorney |
Every entry above has a Signing Requirements row. Read the row for the document you choose before you sign, and ask a North Dakota attorney if you are not sure.
The agent named in a North Dakota power of attorney acts for the principal, so the choice of person matters more than any other line of the form. Talk with the person before you sign, so the role comes as no surprise. Then ask yourself three questions about the person you have in mind:
A North Dakota power of attorney is a written document in which the principal names another person, the agent, to act on the principal's behalf. The powers can be broad, such as handling money, or narrow, such as selling one car.
The durable power of attorney statute calls the agent the attorney in fact (N.D. Cent. Code 30.1-30-01). Both names mean the same person on this page.
The document's type sets its reach. A financial form covers money and property, a health care directive covers treatment decisions, and a child form covers a minor's care and custody.
The North Dakota health care directive is the medical power of attorney form that names a person to make treatment decisions when you cannot make them yourself. The directive is listed in the Medical entry above.
A North Dakota health care directive must meet each item of this list in N.D.C.C. § 23-06.5-05:
A North Dakota health care directive is complete once it carries a date, the principal's signature and verification of that signature by a notary public or by witnesses (N.D.C.C. § 23-06.5-05).
A North Dakota durable power of attorney keeps the agent's authority in force through the principal's later disability or incapacity, because its text shows that intent (N.D. Cent. Code 30.1-30-01).
A durable form contains the words "This power of attorney is not affected by subsequent disability or incapacity of the principal or by lapse of time," or similar words showing the same intent (N.D. Cent. Code 30.1-30-01). A form without such words is not durable under that section.
A springing power of attorney uses the words "This power of attorney becomes effective upon the disability or incapacity of the principal" (N.D. Cent. Code 30.1-30-01). The agent's authority then starts at the principal's disability or incapacity instead of at signing.
All acts an attorney in fact does under a durable power of attorney during the principal's disability or incapacity bind the principal and the principal's successors in interest as if the principal were competent (N.D.C.C. § 30.1-30-02).
A durable power of attorney may nominate a conservator, a guardian of the principal's estate or a guardian of the principal's person for the court to consider if protective proceedings start later (N.D.C.C. § 30.1-30-03). The nomination lets the principal choose in advance who should manage the estate or the person.
The North Dakota child power of attorney lets a parent or guardian delegate powers over the care, custody or property of a minor child or ward for a period not exceeding six months (N.D.C.C. § 30.1-26-04).
The delegation may cover any of the parent's or guardian's powers, except the power to consent to marriage or adoption of a minor ward (N.D.C.C. § 30.1-26-04).
The form for this job is the Power of Attorney for Care and Custody of Minor Child(ren) Form, listed above with its instructions. A longer absence calls for a new form when the current one runs out.
A North Dakota power of attorney ends, as to every person having notice of it, on the expiration of its term, the extinction of its subject, or the agent's death, renunciation or incapacity to act; unless the agent's power is coupled with an interest in the subject of the agency, it also ends on its revocation by the principal, the principal's death or the principal's incapacity to contract (N.D. Cent. Code § 3-01-11).
A durable form is built to work through incapacity: acts under it during the principal's disability or incapacity bind the principal (N.D.C.C. § 30.1-30-02).
The disability or incapacity of a principal whose written power of attorney is not durable does not revoke the agency as to an agent or other person who, without actual knowledge of it, acts in good faith under the power (N.D. Cent. Code 30.1-30-04(2)). Any action so taken, unless otherwise invalid or unenforceable, binds the principal and the principal's successors in interest (N.D. Cent. Code 30.1-30-04(2)).
A North Dakota revocation ends the agent's power as to every person having notice of it, unless the agent's power is coupled with an interest in the subject of the agency, so the agent and every office holding a copy need to hear of it (N.D. Cent. Code § 3-01-11).
A power of attorney with blanks or the wrong wording can stall your agent at the moment a bank or clinic reads it. Check this list before you sign and fix any problem while you can still change the document.
The North Dakota Century Code holds the power of attorney rules cited on this page, and each one links to its chapter on the Legislative Assembly's site at first mention. In North Dakota, there are a couple of state-released forms: Health Care Directive, Power of Attorney for Care and Custody of Minor Child(ren) Form, and Form 500 for tax issues.
Yes, the list in N.D.C.C. § 23-06.5-05 asks for writing, a date, the principal's name, a signature and verification by a notary public or by witnesses, and none of those items involves a lawyer. A lawyer can still help with hard choices.
Yes, the principal's death ends the agent's power as to every person having notice of it, unless the power is coupled with an interest in the subject of the agency (N.D. Cent. Code § 3-01-11). The death does not revoke the agency as to an agent or other person who acts in good faith without actual knowledge of it (N.D. Cent. Code 30.1-30-04(1)). Any action so taken, unless otherwise invalid or unenforceable, binds the principal's successors in interest (N.D. Cent. Code 30.1-30-04(1)).
The two forms serve different needs:
No set date ends it: unless it states a time of termination, a durable power of attorney works notwithstanding the lapse of time since its signing (N.D.C.C. ch. 30.1-30). Its authority still ends on the events in N.D. Cent. Code § 3-01-11, such as revocation or death, unless the agent's power is coupled with an interest in the subject of the agency.
General information, not legal or tax advice.
