Legislation
State: Kentucky
Signed: April 26, 2018
Effective: July 14, 2018
Chapter: 185
SummaryKentucky enacts the Uniform Power of Attorney Act (UPOAA), allowing a principal to sign a power of attorney or direct another person to sign the power of attorney in the principal's conscious presence and granting an acknowledged power of attorney a presumption of genuineness.
AffectsAdds an as yet uncodified new section to Chapter 457 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes.
Changes
- Requires a power of attorney to be signed by the principal or in the principal’s conscious presence by another individual directed by the principal to sign the principal’s name.
- Provides that a power of attorney is presumed to be genuine if the principal acknowledges the signature before a Notary or other officer authorized by law to take acknowledgments and defines the term “acknowledged” to mean “purportedly verified before a notary public or other individual authorized to take acknowledgments.”
- Permits a power of attorney to be electronically signed (and, impliedly, electronically notarized).
- Exempts from the scope of the Act a power of attorney for health care decisions, a proxy or other delegation to exercise voting rights or management of rights with respect to an entity, a power created on a form prescribed by a government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality for a governmental purpose, a power for reciprocal insurers under Subtitle 27 of KRS Chapter 304, a power given by a member of the U.S. armed forces, a person serving as a merchant seaman, or a person outside of the U.S. in connection with war activities under KRS Chapter 384, and a power for the temporary delegation of parental rights under KRS 403.352 and 403.353.
AnalysisKentucky adopts the Uniform Power of Attorney Act published by the Uniform Law Commission. The Act does not require a power of attorney to be acknowledged before a Notary Public, but grants a presumption of genuineness to any power of attorney that is. Notaries should take note that the Act also permits a power of attorney to be signed by another person in the principal's conscious presence if the person is directed to sign by the principal and signs in front of the Notary. In line with other states that have adopted the Act, Kentucky's enactment permits a power of attorney to be electronically signed, and by inference, electronically notarized.
Read House Bill 11.