How to Get Power of Attorney in Michigan

Setting up power of attorney in Michigan means creating two separate documents: one for financial decisions and one for healthcare. Michigan law does not combine them, and each has its own execution rules. Here's the process from start to finish.

Step 1: Decide What Authority You Need

Michigan splits power of attorney into two tracks:

Financial POA (governed by the UPOAA, MCL 556.201–556.505): Covers banking, real estate, taxes, investments, government benefits, insurance, and business operations. The principal checks each category individually on the statutory form.

Patient Advocate Designation (governed by EPIC, MCL 700.5506): Covers medical treatment decisions, mental health treatment, and end-of-life care. This is Michigan's version of a healthcare proxy or medical POA.

Most people need both. Neither document grants the authority covered by the other.

Step 2: Choose Your Agents

Pick a primary agent and at least one successor for each document. The financial agent and patient advocate can be the same person, but they don't have to be.

Avoid naming co-agents who must act together unless absolutely necessary. Michigan's statutory form defaults to sequential agents (the successor takes over only if the primary can't serve), which prevents the gridlock that co-agent arrangements create when one agent is unavailable.

Step 3: Execute the Financial POA

1. Obtain the Michigan Statutory Form Power of Attorney (MCL 556.401) or an equivalent UPOAA-compliant form.
2. The principal initials each category of financial authority they want to grant.
3. If you want the agent to have "hot powers" — gifting, trust modifications, beneficiary changes — the principal must separately initial those in the Grant of Specific Authority section.
4. Choose between immediate activation (effective upon signing) or springing activation (effective only upon a physician's written determination of incapacity).
5. The principal signs the document before a notary public. Cost: approximately $10, often free at local banks. Notarization triggers the mandatory bank acceptance protections under the UPOAA.
6. The agent signs the Agent's Acknowledgment of Duties (MCL 556.402), accepting their fiduciary obligations.

No court filing is required. The executed document is a private instrument. Keep the original in a secure location and provide copies to financial institutions proactively.

Step 4: Execute the Patient Advocate Designation

1. Obtain the Michigan Patient Advocate Designation form (MDHHS Form DCH-3916 or equivalent).
2. The principal specifies their wishes regarding life-sustaining treatment, organ donation, and mental health treatment.
3. The principal signs and dates the document in front of two qualified, disinterested witnesses. The witnesses cannot be the principal's spouse, children, presumptive heirs, treating physician, named advocate, or employees of their healthcare facility or insurer.
4. Both witnesses sign the document.
5. The named advocate signs a separate written acceptance of their duties.

Notarization cannot substitute for the two witnesses on a PAD. This is a different rule from the financial POA and trips up many families.

Step 5: Distribute the Documents

• Give copies of the financial POA to each bank, brokerage, and financial institution the principal uses. Under the UPOAA, institutions that receive a notarized POA must accept it within seven business days.
• Give copies of the Patient Advocate Designation to the principal's physicians, hospital, and the named advocate.
• Keep the originals in a fireproof safe or safety deposit box that the agent can access.

What It Costs

Michigan does not charge a filing fee for power of attorney documents because they're not filed with any court. The only mandatory cost is the notary fee, and many banks notarize for free for account holders.

What Happens If You Wait Too Long

The principal must be mentally competent to sign a POA. Once a person can no longer understand what they're signing — whether from dementia, stroke, or sudden incapacity — the window closes permanently. The family's only option becomes a court-supervised guardianship ($175 filing fee) and/or conservatorship ($175 filing fee), a process that typically takes four to eight weeks and costs thousands in attorney fees.

The Michigan Power of Attorney Kit provides both documents with step-by-step instructions, witness screening tools, and a bank acceptance defense guide for the UPOAA's mandatory acceptance provisions.

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