How to Get Power of Attorney in Maryland: Step-by-Step Process

Getting a power of attorney in Maryland is not complicated, but each step has specific requirements that must be followed in the right order. Skip one — especially during the signing ceremony — and the document is legally void.

Step 1: Decide What Authority You Need

Maryland requires separate documents for financial and healthcare decisions:

Financial Power of Attorney (under ET § 17-202) covers banking, investments, real estate, tax filings, insurance, government benefits, and legal matters. You choose which categories to include or grant general authority across all of them.

Advance Directive (under HG § 5-601) combines a healthcare power of attorney with a living will. This names a healthcare agent and documents your end-of-life treatment preferences.

Most people need both. They are independent documents with different execution requirements.

Step 2: Choose Your Agent

Your agent should be someone you trust with your finances or health decisions. Maryland imposes no residency requirement — your agent can live in another state. Consider naming a successor agent in case your primary agent cannot serve.

For the financial POA, your agent has broad authority over your assets unless you restrict it. For the Advance Directive, your healthcare agent makes medical decisions only after two physicians certify that you lack decision-making capacity.

One person can serve as both your financial agent and healthcare agent, or you can name different people for each role.

Step 3: Complete the Forms

Use the Maryland statutory form for the financial POA. The form includes:

• Grant of General Powers — check individual categories or select the general grant
• Special Instructions — add any restrictions, springing conditions, or expanded authority (such as gifting or Medicaid planning powers)
• Agent designation — name your primary and successor agents with full legal names and addresses

For the Advance Directive, complete both the healthcare agent designation and the treatment preferences sections. Specify your wishes regarding life-sustaining procedures, artificial nutrition and hydration, and organ donation.

Step 4: Execute the Financial POA

The signing ceremony for a financial POA requires three simultaneous elements under ET § 17-110:

1. Sign the document (or have someone sign at your direction in your presence)
2. Acknowledge the document before a notary public
3. Have two adult witnesses sign in your presence and in each other's presence

The notary can serve as one of your two witnesses under ET § 17-110(b), so you need a minimum of three people: yourself, one independent witness, and a notary.

Coordinate everyone to be in the same room at the same time. The principal signs first, then each witness signs while everyone is present, then the notary completes the acknowledgment.

Step 5: Execute the Advance Directive

The healthcare Advance Directive has different rules — simpler in some ways, stricter in others:

• No notary required — only your signature and two witnesses
• Your healthcare agent cannot witness — neither can successor agents
• One disinterested witness — at least one witness must not benefit from your estate under a will or intestacy

Sign and date the Advance Directive with both witnesses present.

Step 6: Record and Distribute

For the financial POA: If it grants real estate authority, record the original in the Land Records office of the Circuit Court Clerk in every county where you own property. Recording fees are $20 for documents under 10 pages. Distribute certified copies to your agent, your bank, your financial advisor, and your attorney.

For the Advance Directive: Give copies to your healthcare agent, your primary care physician, and the hospital most likely to treat you. Maryland maintains a voluntary Advance Directive Registry through the Office of the Attorney General — registration is optional but makes the document accessible to healthcare providers.

What It Costs

Executing a POA in Maryland without an attorney costs very little:

• Notary fee: $2 to $10
• Recording fee (if real estate authority is granted): $20 to $75
• Witness fee: $0 (witnesses are not paid)

Attorney-drafted estate planning suites range from $1,500 to $5,000. The Maryland Power of Attorney Kit provides the statutory forms with step-by-step instructions, signing ceremony checklists, and Special Instructions templates at a fraction of attorney fees.

See more Maryland guides →