[WSBAPT] POA Notarization - Can notary be related?

[Heather deVrieze]

There is a new provision codified at “RCW 42.45.020 (2)(a) A notarial officer may not perform a notarial act with respect to a record to which the officer or the officer's spouse or domestic partner is a party, or in which any of the above have a direct beneficial interest.”

So . . . some relatives may be ok, but others, not. I would generally avoid having a family member notarize a POA, but once upon a time I notarized my grandfather’s POA giving authority to his wife, and then my mother as alternate. When grandma wanted to make me her alternate agent under a later POA, I did not notarize that one.

Heather

Heather S. de Vrieze
Attorney-at-Law
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3909 California Avenue SW
Seattle, WA 98116-3705
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From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Lincoln Miller
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2017 12:08 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBAPT] POA Notarization - Can notary be related?

Does the restriction against related parties being a witness to a POA also apply to the notary? Here is the relevant section of the statute:

§ 11.125.050. Power of attorney-Requirements
(1)

A power of attorney must be signed and dated by the principal, and the signature must be either acknowledged before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments, or attested by two or more competent witnesses who are neither home care providers for the principal nor care providers at an adult family home or long-term care facility in which the principal resides, and who are unrelated to the principal or agent by blood, marriage, or state registered domestic partnership, by subscribing their names to the power of attorney, while in the presence of the principal and at the principal's direction or request.


(2)

A power of attorney shall be considered signed in accordance with this section if, in the case of a principal who is physically unable to sign his or her name, the principal makes a mark in accordance with RCW 11.12.030, or in the case of a principal who is physically unable to make a mark, the power of attorney is executed in accordance with RCW 64.08.100.


(3)

A signature on a power of attorney is presumed to be genuine if the principal acknowledges the signature before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments.


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