Pennsylvania Power of Attorney Form Requirements

Pennsylvania does not publish a single "official" power of attorney form. What it publishes — at 20 Pa.C.S. § 5601(c) and § 5601(d) — are two blocks of statutory language that must appear in any valid POA: the Notice to the principal and the Acknowledgment by the agent. Leave either out, or paraphrase them, and your document will be rejected.

The Notice block

The Notice is a plain-English warning to the principal about what they are giving up. It must appear at the beginning of the POA, in capital letters, and the principal must sign it separately from the rest of the document. The language is fixed by statute — copy it verbatim, not from a template that "updated" it.

The Acknowledgment block

Before an agent can act under a Pennsylvania POA, they must sign the statutory Acknowledgment confirming they understand their fiduciary duties: to act in the principal's best interest, keep records, and avoid conflicts. Banks routinely demand to see a signed Acknowledgment before honoring the POA.

Execution formalities

• Principal signs in front of two adult witnesses and a notary
• Witnesses cannot be the agent, the notary, or someone signing for the principal
• The notary's acknowledgment must reference Pennsylvania law

The hot powers checklist (20 Pa.C.S. § 5601.4)

A conforming Notice and Acknowledgment get your POA in the door — they don't automatically give your agent every power the document appears to grant. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 5601.4, nine specific powers require express, itemized authorization in the document itself, confirmed current for 2026:

• Creating, amending, revoking, or terminating an inter vivos trust
• Making a gift
• Creating or changing rights of survivorship
• Creating or changing a beneficiary designation
• Delegating authority granted under the power of attorney
• Waiving the principal's right to be a beneficiary of a joint and survivor annuity, including a survivor benefit under a retirement plan
• Exercising fiduciary powers the principal has authority to delegate
• Disclaiming property, including a power of appointment
• Access to the content of the principal's electronic communications

A form that grants "all powers I could exercise myself" does not reach any of these — each one has to be named. This matters most in a Medicaid planning crisis, where an agent who cannot gift assets or fund a trust has almost no options left once the five-year lookback clock is already running. Section 5608 also gives banks and other third parties liability protection for accepting a properly executed POA in good faith — and just as clear grounds to refuse one that is missing the Notice, the Acknowledgment, or an expressly granted hot power.

Why generic online forms fail

Most national POA templates were drafted to a "lowest common denominator" — they include neither the PA Notice nor the PA Acknowledgment, and their witness rules don't match Chapter 56. Pennsylvania banks have well-developed compliance protocols and will refuse them. For background on the 2014 overhaul, see our Pennsylvania power of attorney 2025 guide.