POA Signings

Hi All,
I have been having issues lately with Power of Attorney signings needing to be re-signed. My last signing there was the correct verbiage already pre-printed on the forms so I had him just sign. For the pages that did not have the POA verbiage I had the signer sign the names with the correct wording. Title said it needed to be written in addition to the pre-printed wording. Does anyone know legally if the pre-printed verbiage is not acceptable? I don’t understand why pre-printed names and dates are ok, but POA wording is not.

I was also told the initials were incorrect- JD BY JD AS POA
I was told to do this instead- JD BY JOHN DOE AS POWER OF ATTORNEY
(Writing a sentence on an initial line seems messy)

Is this correct? Or is this company just being picky? The lender even seemed confused by this. My 3 POA signings before all had to be redone with nobody able to tell me specifically why. I know every company is different, but is there a minimum requirement or rule or law or something for what is acceptable? I feel like I’m walking on eggshells with Title/Escrow companies.

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Cardinal Rule: He who has the gold makes the Rules

IMO the initials should be “JD and JD as AIF”… not POA…but that’s being pickier than this company seems to be. However, that said, have docs signed as instructed by hiring party…make sure you get these instructions in writing for your own protection. Complete your notary certs in strict compliance with your state notary laws

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I incorrectly put POA, not AIF. You were correct, good eye! The POA’s I’ve done have all been for SS companies, so I ask them and it would still come back incorrect. I can’t seem to get it right even when I ask, that’s why I was asking if there was a legal standard for how to fill these out, so I don’t keep wasting time and money signing the same pages over and over. If there’s no standard and every company can make up their own rules, then I guess you answered my question. Thank you!

Yep, they all make their own rules so it’s best to ‘get it in writing’. This quirk also applies to ‘Trust signings’. Signature only; OR signature, Trustee; OR signature and the whole 9 yards of verbiage about the Trust (rare). Whenever I have a Trust signing, I always ‘get it in writing’.

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One question here…are they questioning the wording of your certs or just the initialing and signing of the docs?

Individual POA and Trust POA signing samples:

Always clarify with title people first of course.
Here are some samples of how I handle Individual POA and Trust POA signing.

Individual POA and trust POA signing are the same. The solid line represents signature line. Bottom of line represents pre-print info, top of line represents what the signature should look like.

Individual POA signature:

Jon Doe
By Jane Doe, Attorney In Fact————————————————————
Jon Doe
By Jane Doe, Attorney In Fact

Jon Doe By Jane Doe, Attorney In Fact
————————————————————-
Jon Doe By Jane Doe, Attorney In Fact

Trust POA signature:

Jon Doe
By Jane Doe, Attorney In Fact————————————————————
Jon Doe, trustee trust verbiage
By Jane Doe, Attorney In Fact

Jon Doe By Jane Doe, Attorney In Fact
————————————————————-
Jon Doe, trustee trust verbiage By Jane Doe, Attorney In Fact

Individual POA and trust POA initials:
JD By Jane Doe, Attorney In Fact

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@matthew_alias regrets you’re experiencing this situation.

My thoughts mirror the previously expressed above. I concur: Yes, those who hold the gold, make the rules . . .

As such, the process I implemented many years ago was to request explicit execution instructions in writing from the hiring party; i.e., Title/Escrow company [T/EC], signing service [SS], attorney, etc. for Power of Attorney [POA] documents and/or Trust documents.

Of course, the notary regulations within your state are your compliance baseline, then you “add” the specifics of the hiring party => as long as there is no violation of the state regulations.

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I had something similar and I reached out to the title company for clarification I asked them specifically what they wanted and they said “BG by CK as POA”… so that is what I did.