A Power of Attorney is a notarized letter of authority given by a person or a company having capacity to another person or a company, which allows them to act for and on behalf of them in various government departments and for contractual purposes. The attorney and the person giving it must be over 21 years of age and must be of sound mind.

A Power of Attorney is also required by lawyers prior to acting on behalf of their clients. If a Power of Attorney is executed it Dubai by a resident expatriate a local citizen or a visitor, it must be signed by the person, bearing his original ID (Emirates ID or Passport) in front of the notary public. After notarization, two copies are given to the two parties and one is retained by the Notary Public for their records.

If a Power of Attorney is executed outside the UAE for use within the UAE, it has to be signed in front of the notary/magistrate/solicitor in the country of origin, attested by he foreign office in that country and legalize by the UAE embassy in the country of execution. The same document shall then be translasted in Arabic in the UAE, attested by the Foreign Office in the UAE and legalized by the Ministry of Justice.

A Power of Attorney allows the attorney to sign in all capacities as stated in the POA. This can include the right to buy and sell property, file cases in court, sign contracts etc. There is a trust relationship between the person giving the power of attorney and the attorney. Any misuse of the POA is an extremely serious offence and is considered a crime of beach of trust, fraud, and can be tried both under criminal and civil procedures in court. Although uncommon, one should take all necessary precautions while issuing a POA and if the POA is given for a specific task, the executor should make sure that the same is cancelled following the correct procedures after the task at hand is completed.

There is no concept of a Lasting Power of Attorney under the UAE laws, which means that any POA is automatically cancelled at the death of the executor. Lasting POAs which have affect even after the death of a person are special Power of Attorneys under the common Law.

Irrevocable Power of Attorneys cannot be signed in Dubai, however it is possible in other Emirates like Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

Each kind of a Power of Attorney might have additional requirements according to the department using them. For example and POA to sell a property cannot be given without having the original title deed. A general POA to sell the property is mostly no longer valid and accepted by the Dubai Lands Department. Any such Power of Attorney shall be accompanies with a Title Deed and shall have the address of the unit it is being given for.

Any person giving a Power of attorney should be careful about giving it jointly or individually. A jointly given POA can only be used with the presence of both attorneys mentioned. This can make the POA both more secure and more inflexible.

A Power of Attorney also contains the options of being delegable to another party. In such a power of attorney, it should be clearly written that the said Power of Attorney is delegable at the discretion of the attorney. In such instances, the attorney, for his convenience or in the event is unable to be present, can delegate the POA to a third party who will then as a result also act for the executor under the same principles as are contained in the POA given to him.

A POA can be cancelled by the executor at any time. The cancellation is done at the notory public and mostly does not require the presence of the other party. There are, however, some POA that require the other party to be present at the time of the cancellation. Additionally, if the POA contains a period of time, then the POA automatically expires at the expiration of this period, with no further notice.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.