AffectsAmends Sections 6.1-125.15:1, 37.2-1009, 37.2-1020, 37.2-1023, 55-34.7, 55-544.01, 55-544.02, and 55-546.02; adds in Title 26 a chapter numbered 7, consisting of sections numbered 26-71.01 through 26-74.03; and repeals Sections 11-9.1 through 11-9.7 and 37.2-1018 of the Code of Virginia.
AnalysisVirginia becomes the seventh U.S. jurisdiction to enact the Uniform Power of Attorney Act (UPOAA). The UPOAA allows another person to sign the principal’s name on the power of attorney as long as this is done at the principal’s direction and in the principal’s conscious presence; however, there is no indication whether this person may be the Notary or an individual given powers by the power of attorney document. The UPOAA allows a power of attorney document to be signed and notarized electronically and grants a presumption of genuineness to a power of attorney that is acknowledged before a Notary or other officer authorized to take acknowledgments. The Act does not specifically require a power of attorney to be acknowledged, but by granting the presumption of genuineness, it strongly encourages the notarization of a power. The presumption of genuineness protects a person who in good faith accepts an acknowledged power of attorney without knowledge that it contains a forged signature or a latent defect in the acknowledgment and promotes acceptance of powers of attorney, a major goal of the Act. This presumption does not apply to a power of attorney that is simply signed by the principal without being acknowledged.
Read House Bill 719.