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MN House File 232

Legislation

State: Minnesota
Signed: April 24, 2013

Effective: January 01, 2014
Chapter: 23

Summary

House File 232 requires an individual signing a document as attorney in fact for a principal to identify him or herself as attorney in fact in the signature line by writing the signature substantially in the form provided in the statute.

Affects

Amends Sections 523.20, 523.23 and 523.24 of the Minnesota Statutes.

Changes
  1. Requires an attorney in fact to disclose his or her identity as an attorney-in-fact whenever he or she acts for the principal by signing in substantially the following manner: “Signature by a person as ‘attorney-in-fact for (name of the principal)’ or ‘(name of the principal) by (name of the attorney-in-fact) the principal's attorney-in-fact’.
Analysis
When an attorney in fact signs a document for a principal signer, it has been common for the attorney in fact to sign using a prescribed form for making the signature. However, rarely does statute actually dictate what the manner for signing must be. Notaries often inquire about how the attorney in fact must sign, and the NNA has usually responded by advising Notaries to contact the document’s issuing or receiving agency for further instructions. Now at least in Minnesota there is an answer to this question that will be written into the statute, effective January 1, 2014. House File 232 provides that an attorney in fact must sign in substantially the following manner: "Signature by a person as ‘attorney-in-fact for (name of the principal)’ or ‘(name of the principal) by (name of the attorney-in-fact) the principal's attorney-in-fact’".
 
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