Cancel (revoke) a Power of Attorney

A power of attorney form lets you choose a trusted friend or relative to help you with your finances, health care decisions, mental health care, or parental powers. The trusted friend or relative is called your “agent.”

Yes. You can cancel (you can revoke) your power of attorney at any time by giving a written notice to your agent. You can use our Revocation of Power of Attorney form or write your own. 

Give a copy of the revocation notice to your medical providers, bank, school, and other places that might still have or accept the old power of attorney. If possible, retrieve and destroy copies of your revoked power of attorney, or tell those who have revoked copies to destroy them. Keep one copy of your revoked power of attorney in your records with the word “REVOKED” written across the front.

No. Your revocation notice does not have to be notarized. Our form has notary information in case you want to notarize it.

You should revoke your power of attorney right away. Make sure you give copies of the form or letter you use to revoke your power of attorney to your medical providers, bank, school, and other places that might still have or accept the old power of attorney. You can report the agent to local law enforcement or Adult Protective Services (APS). 

If you’re concerned for your safety even after you revoke your power of attorney, you may need to go to court for a protection order against the agent.

Yes. After you revoke your old power of attorney, you can sign a new power of attorney form to choose a different agent. In your new power of attorney form, make sure it says all earlier power of attorney forms are revoked.