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A power of attorney gives someone you trust the authority to act on your behalf, either for your affairs generally or for one specific transaction such as selling a property or signing a hypothec.
A power of attorney gives someone you trust the authority to act on your behalf, either for your affairs generally or for one specific transaction such as selling a property or signing a hypothec.
A special power of attorney is given for one defined purpose: selling a named property, signing a hypothec, dealing with a file at the SAAQ. Its limits are set out in black and white, and that is exactly what makes it useful: the third party receiving it sees precisely what the mandatary may do.
A general power of attorney entrusts your affairs as a whole. It is what you need when you will be away for a long time, when you can no longer get about, or when someone must be able to act without you having to come in and sign each time.
The law recognises both written and verbal powers of attorney, but in practice writing prevails: it is required to withdraw money from an account or to sell an immovable, and it is the only thing a third party will agree to read. A verbal power of attorney cannot be proved.
Choosing between the two is not a matter of convenience. A badly drafted general power of attorney will NOT allow your house to be sold, and that is the subject of the next section.
You will be out of the country when a document must be signed. You want a relative to handle specific administrative steps. A real estate transaction must close in your absence.
Determining the exact scope of the authority granted. Drafting the clauses that frame how it may be used. Explaining the rules on revocation and what they mean in practice. Safekeeping of the original deed.
A power of attorney has effect while you remain capable. Should you become incapable it ceases to apply, and the protection mandate takes over once homologated.
Useful questions
Not necessarily, and this is the most expensive trap of all. Where a power of attorney is worded in overly general terms, the law limits the mandatary to acts of simple administration: paying bills, collecting income. Selling an immovable or hypothecating it goes beyond simple administration and requires an express power, written out in full. The problem is discovered at closing, not at signing.
A power of attorney holds while you are capable and ceases to have effect if you are declared incapable. A protection mandate is of no use while you are capable and is activated only after assessments and homologation. They do not replace each other: they cover two different moments and complete each other.
No one can sign in your place: a family tie confers no legal power. At best, a signature is postponed. At worst it is too late: a power of attorney can only be given by a capable person, so once capacity is lost all that remains is homologating a protection mandate or opening a tutorship to a person of full age.
You may revoke it at any time while you are capable. But deciding is not enough: you must notify the mandatary, recover the original and the copies, and warn the third parties who knew of it: banks, insurers, tenants. As long as they are unaware, they may deal with the mandatary in good faith and those acts bind you.
No. The Civil Code requires them to act with prudence and diligence, honestly and faithfully, in your best interests, and to avoid any conflict of interest. They must keep you informed of the acts performed and, once the assignment is complete, hand over the money and documents received. They must also carry out the mandate themselves, unless authorised otherwise.
Yes: strictly personal acts. Your mandatary cannot make your will, cannot sign your protection mandate, and cannot consent to a marriage in your place. Those decisions are not delegable, however the document is worded.
The law does not require notarial form. In practice it settles three things: the powers are drafted precisely enough for a third party to recognise them, the original stays in safekeeping at the office and cannot be altered afterwards, and both your identity and your understanding of the act are verified. For a real-estate transaction, that is often the difference between a signature that happens and one that gets postponed.
On the death of the mandator or the mandatary, on the declared incapacity of either, on the arrival of the term provided for, on completion of the transaction concerned, or by revocation. That is why a power of attorney never replaces a protection mandate.
By building the safeguards in at the drafting stage, which is the only moment it can be done: an expiry date, a withdrawal cap, excluded accounts or property, an inventory at the outset, accounts to be rendered at regular intervals. And by preferring a special power of attorney, limited to the transaction that justifies it, over a general one granted out of convenience.
Acts the mandatary performs within the limits of the powers you gave them bind you towards third parties: that is the whole point of a power of attorney. It is why the extent of the powers is worth thinking through before signing, and why a revocation must be brought to third parties' knowledge to be effective against them.
A power of attorney worded too broadly («look after all my affairs») limits the mandatary to acts of simple administration: paying bills, collecting income, handling day-to-day matters. Selling or hypothecating the house requires an express power, written out in full.
The problem shows up on the day of the transaction, at the buyer’s notary or the bank, often when the mandator is abroad or in hospital. Drafting it well means naming exactly the powers needed, so that a third party recognises them without argument.
The Civil Code places obligations on the mandatary, the counterpart of the power entrusted to them. They remain liable for anyone they substitute for themselves or who assists them.
No power of attorney allows strictly personal acts: the mandatary cannot make your will, sign your protection mandate or consent to a marriage on your behalf.
Understanding more
No one can sign for you: being family gives no legal power. At best, a sale or refinancing is postponed, sometimes with a penalty.
At worst, it is too late: a power of attorney can only be signed while you are capable. After incapacity, only the court remains: homologating a protection mandate or, failing one, opening a tutorship to a person of full age, with months of delay and costs borne by your patrimony.
Both name someone to act for you, but not at the same time. A power of attorney applies while you are capable and ends the day you are declared incapable. A protection mandate only takes effect after the medical and psychosocial assessments and its homologation.
They complement each other: a power of attorney without a mandate leaves a gap at incapacity; a mandate without a power of attorney means going to court for a simple signature while you travel.
You can revoke a power of attorney at any time while you are capable, without giving reasons. It must still be made enforceable: until they know, third parties can deal in good faith with the mandatary, and those acts bind you. Notify the mandatary, ask for the original and any copies, and inform each third party concerned in writing.
It also ends on its own on the death or declared incapacity of the mandator or the mandatary, at the agreed term, or once the transaction is completed.
Drafting is the time to set safeguards: an expiry date, a withdrawal limit, excluded accounts or property, an initial inventory and regular accounts, or a special power of attorney limited to the transaction in question.
Before a notary, the original stays at the office: it cannot be lost or altered. The notary checks your identity and your understanding, and it is the power of attorney third parties accept most readily, especially for a real estate transaction.
We set out what the mandatary may do, and what they may not.
The powers are worded precisely.
The power of attorney is signed before the notary.
The mandatary acts within the limits provided.
Before the meeting
Depending on the intended use, other information may be required. This list is indicative.
What to bring to a first meetingRelated services
This page provides general information and does not constitute legal advice. Each situation must be assessed individually.
Next step
Write to us or call the office. We will tell you which steps to follow and which documents to prepare.
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