What should you pay attention to when registering a power of attorney with a notary? What nuances do you need to know?
We in no way want to slander our partner-competitors, but sometimes we really come across complete assholes, which cause not just trouble, but real problems. In this regard, we would like to tell you about all the nuances and little things that should be present on the power of attorney form. We hope this material will be useful to you.
In the Civil Code, namely in Art. 185 and 186 directly state that when a power of attorney is certified by a notary, it must contain mandatory fields, without which it is simply considered invalid. Below is a sample power of attorney, which we will break down in detail.
City and date of execution of the power of attorney
In our power of attorney, this item is designated as number 1. Part 1 of Article 186 of the Civil Code says in black and white that if there is no date for issuing the power of attorney, it will be considered invalid (just a piece of paper, not a document). If you have dealt with a notary's office more than once, you have seen that the date is written in words. Officially, the law does not say anything about this and would not be considered a particularly serious mistake, but in order to avoid forgery of documents, there is an unspoken rule among notaries - to write the date in words. This way, you will be sure that this part of the document will not be forged. The name of the locality where the power of attorney was executed and issued is also indicated.
Electronic notarized power of attorney: what is it and how to make it
An electronic notarized power of attorney is a document equivalent to a paper one, but executed in digital form. Such a power of attorney can be drawn up by a notary - only in this case will it have legal force.
Registration procedure
Registration of an electronic power of attorney is carried out in several stages: You must come to the notary with the original passport. The specialist must verify the identity of the applicant using the document. If the power of attorney is already issued in paper form, it will be checked and converted into digital format. In the absence of a document, a paper power of attorney is first drawn up, then its electronic counterpart.
The digital document is certified with the lawyer’s electronic signature, and the signature is placed in a separate file. The document is saved to external media.
It is impossible to make changes to a notarized electronic power of attorney - it is encrypted with a crypto key using a special program. Such a document is equivalent to a paper one, it has legal force. In authorities where the bearer uses a power of attorney, they can easily check whether the digital signature certificate is valid.
Moreover, the validity of the document can be checked using the Register of Powers of Attorney - such a database has been in operation since 2020.
Advantages of an electronic power of attorney
One of the advantages of this type of document is instant transmission to the recipient. No forwarding or courier delivery services are required, everything happens in the safest possible way - via email or instant messenger.
Sending is carried out anywhere in the world with one click of a button.
Also, storing and transmitting electronically is more secure. Paper powers of attorney can be lost, damaged, and sometimes documents are stolen. Storing on electronic media avoids such risks.
It is almost impossible to falsify a digital document - it is protected by an electronic signature.
Organizations are switching to digital documentation to reduce the volume of archives. Electronic archives eliminate bureaucracy, long searches for materials, confusion and delays when solving important problems.
Such document flow reduces the time spent working with papers and saves the budget - you no longer need to spend money on couriers, sending letters and parcels by special services.
Electronic power of attorney is available to organizations and individuals. Organizations also require an electronic digital signature when preparing such documents - a digital signature of the head responsible for decision-making is required.
Information about the principal and representative
Next, look at point number 2. Personal information about the principal and representative is indicated there. The passport details of both parties (if these are individuals) are entered: series, number, who issued it, when it was issued. Sometimes they may also enter the place and date of birth. No less rare is the situation when the principal is a company, and the trustee is an individual. In this case, the following information about the company is entered - INN, KPP, OGRN, as well as the legal and actual address of the organization. In other words, the maximum data of both parties must be entered in this paragraph.
Special types of powers of attorney and their execution
First of all, let's look at what documents are needed to formalize a general power of attorney. This type of document has certain specifics. By virtue of its drafting, the right to transfer a wide range of powers and for a long time is secured. Therefore, the notary may ask you to provide evidence that you yourself have the right to perform the appropriate actions. As a rule, this applies to situations where a power of attorney is issued on behalf of an organization to a specific citizen.
The company is represented by a specific employee. As a rule, he confirms his authority to issue a power of attorney with the statutory documents of the organization or enterprise. They must state that the employee has a certain set of rights and responsibilities that are exercised by him on behalf of the company. Also, among other things, you will need his passport.
Therefore, answering the question about what documents are needed to draw up a general power of attorney, we see that in addition to the standard set, those samples will also be needed that certify that the principal has certain capabilities. Without their provision, the notary may refuse to affix a mark. Therefore, prepare in advance a statute or job description certified in a certain way.
Representative powers
Let's move on to point No. 3. In this section we move away from general formulations and vague concepts. It is necessary to clearly indicate the powers of the trustee, what he can do on your behalf and what he cannot do. For example, in our sample power of attorney, the principal allowed the trustee to act on his behalf in many structures in matters related to technical work. That is, he can work with all documents related to this issue.
In other words, you can prescribe in the power of attorney a whole list of specific actions and narrow the scope of the work of the trustee, or in writing allow him to perform a number of actions in a specific area.
For example, the trustee was given the right to do any legal thing with the trustor's car. What can a trustee do? He can sell it, rent it out, deregister it, etc. This is very risky if you do not completely trust the person in question. Therefore, it would not be a bad idea to allow him to only rent out a car. I hope the idea is clear to you.
How can a power of attorney be revoked?
It is prohibited to represent interests when:
• the document has expired; • the representative refuses to carry out the actions provided for in the power of attorney; • a legal entity acting as a principal or trustee has ceased its activities; • the death of a person who appears in the general power of attorney, or the proxy is declared incompetent and has limited civil rights; • the principal revoked the power of attorney.
The principal can terminate the document at any time, regardless of the actions of the trustee.
Duration of power of attorney, change of powers of representative
Let's move on to point number 4. Here you can see the “validity period of the power of attorney.” If we go back to paragraph 1 of Article 186 of the Civil Code, we can find there that in the absence of specific expiration dates for the power of attorney, its action is considered legal for one year. If necessary, you can write down in words the validity period of the power of attorney at the very end.
Article 187 of the Civil Code contains a clause that is related to transfer of trust. In this case, the trustee has the right to transfer his rights to a third party. Let's look at it with an example. A power of attorney was issued to a lawyer to perform certain actions. At the same time, it was indicated about the transfer of powers to a third party. So. For example, he will be able to instruct his assistant through a separate power of attorney issued on his own behalf. But the term of the second power of attorney should not exceed the period of validity of the first. That is, if the first one is issued for one year, then the second one should not exceed this period. Also, if necessary, the lawyer will be able to perform all the necessary actions himself, and not just entrust them to his assistant.
If you need to issue a power of attorney with the right of substitution, then such a power of attorney must be certified by a notary.
In what cases can a duplicate of a notarial document be issued?
The law, in principle, provides for the possibility of a notary issuing a duplicate of a document that has been notarized in the event of its loss or damage. This is permissible subject to the following conditions (Article 52 of the Fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation on notaries, approved by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on February 11, 1993 No. 4462-I, hereinafter referred to as the Fundamentals):
- the document is lost or damaged by the person on whose behalf or on whose behalf the notarial act was performed;
- the lost/damaged document expressed the content of a notarial transaction or certificate, executive inscription;
- a copy of the documents listed in the previous paragraph of the list is kept in the notary’s files;
- the applicant is the person himself, on behalf of or on whose behalf the notarial act was performed.
Duplicates of documents certified in the procedure under consideration can be issued only to the persons indicated above upon their written application (Article 5 of the Fundamentals).
IMPORTANT! Duplicates of documents, copies of which are in the custody of a notary, may be issued to him in the event of loss of the original.
Regarding the admissibility of issuing several duplicates of one document at the same time, there are the following clarifications: a duplicate is not a copy of a document, therefore it cannot be issued in several copies (letter of the Federal Notary Chamber (hereinafter referred to as FNP) dated July 17, 2008 No. 1066/06-12).
Information on the performance of all notarial acts is subject to registration in a special register (Article 50 of the Fundamentals).
You will find general information about certification of powers of attorney on the ConsultantPlus website. If you do not yet have access to the ConsultantPlus system, you can obtain it free of charge for 2 days.
How to correctly draw up a general power of attorney
To prepare a power of attorney, the presence of an authorized person does not need to be present. The paper can be obtained from any notary in the Russian Federation, including in Bely. The power of attorney specifies the following rights:
- representing the interests of the principal;
- transactions;
- signing of documents;
- collection, submission of information;
- payment of state duties, fees, receipt of material assets in the interests of the principal.
The transfer of certain types of powers is prohibited at the legislative level:
- signing papers for inheritance;
- signature in a general passport or other identification documents;
- liability for damages;
- payment of tax deductions.
How to use electronic notary in Bely in 2020
The presence of these items in the document must be checked by a notary before affixing his signature to the power of attorney.
Documents for issuing a power of attorney for the purchase of an apartment
One of the most common examples in the area we are considering is the assignment of the right to purchase real estate. It is these contracts that representation is very often used today. Therefore, let us consider what documentary features such a situation will have.
We are talking about the transfer of ownership of an apartment, which has a special set of requirements from the legislation. This kind of relationship necessarily requires a notarized power of attorney. The absence of a special mark makes it impossible to use the document in any action.
Accordingly, you will need to contact a notary. It is worth remembering here that the documents may differ depending on what stage the transaction is at. If we are talking about the conclusion of the contract itself, then we will need a standard set of papers - a passport and a power of attorney. At the same time, the content of the latter must clearly state what actions the representation is aimed at - writing a purchase and sale agreement, providing it to the buyer or seller, etc.
If we are talking about direct state registration of the transfer of ownership, then the system will be slightly different. What documents does a notary need to formalize such a power of attorney?
In this case, it is worth proceeding from the fact that the purchase and sale agreement itself has already been drawn up. Therefore, it is recommended to provide the notary officer with the agreement itself along with your passport and power of attorney. After all, as a rule, the document on representation indicates the number of the agreement and the date of its signing. Therefore, the notary must make sure that the statements in the power of attorney correspond to all the indicators in the purchase and sale agreement.
