Maryland Financial Power of Attorney

General vs. Limited: Which One Your Family Needs

Maryland offers two statutory financial POA forms, and the choice depends on how much authority your parent wants to delegate.

The Personal Financial Power of Attorney under ET Section 17-202 grants broad authority. The agent can manage bank accounts, pay bills, file taxes, handle real estate transactions, apply for government benefits, manage investments, and make legal claims. For most families helping an aging parent, this is the right document — it covers the full range of financial tasks that come up as a parent's health declines.

The Limited Power of Attorney under ET Section 17-203 restricts the agent to specific transactions the principal defines. A parent might use this to authorize one child to sell a specific property or manage a single brokerage account, without granting access to anything else. Limited POAs are also useful when a parent wants different children handling different assets.

Both forms are durable by default under Maryland law, meaning authority continues even if the parent later loses mental capacity.

The Signing Requirements

Every financial POA in Maryland requires:

1. A written document signed by the principal
2. Acknowledgment before a notary public
3. Signatures from two competent adult witnesses

The notary can double as one of the two witnesses, so the minimum signing party is three people: your parent, the notary, and one additional witness. This efficiency is explicitly authorized under ET Section 17-110.

When the Statutory Form Is Not Enough

The ET 17-202 form works for straightforward situations — managing a parent's checking account, paying their bills, handling their Medicare paperwork. An elder law attorney should draft a custom durable POA if:

• Your parent owns business entities or out-of-state real estate. The statutory form may not include the specific powers needed to manage an LLC, sell property across state lines, or execute commercial leases.
• Medicaid planning is on the horizon. The standard form typically lacks clauses authorizing unlimited gifts, creating irrevocable trusts, or transferring property to a community spouse — all of which may be necessary to qualify for Medicaid without triggering penalties during the 60-month lookback period.
• Siblings disagree about care or finances. A custom document can include transparency provisions, co-agent requirements, or mandatory accounting schedules that reduce the risk of disputes escalating to court under ET Section 17-103.

What Happens When Banks Push Back

Banks sometimes refuse to honor even a properly executed statutory POA — the branch manager does not recognize the form, the legal department wants their own paperwork, or the document is "too old." Maryland anticipated this problem.

Under ET Section 17-104, financial institutions are legally required to accept the statutory forms. If a bank unreasonably refuses, the agent can petition the court for an order compelling compliance. The bank may be held liable for reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred to obtain that order.

In practice, bringing a printed copy of Section 17-104 to the branch often resolves the issue without court involvement. The statute shifts the risk onto the institution for refusing, which changes the conversation.

Protecting the Document After Signing

Make certified copies immediately after the signing ceremony. Deliver copies to every financial institution your parent uses — banks, brokerages, insurance companies, mortgage servicers. If an institution already has the POA on file when a crisis hits, you avoid the delay of presenting it during an emergency.

Store the original in a secure but accessible location. A fireproof home safe works. A bank safe deposit box that the agent cannot open without a court order during a weekend does not.

The Maryland Power of Attorney and Guardianship Kit includes both statutory forms with field-by-field instructions, plus a bank enforcement protocol for situations where an institution refuses to comply.

See more Maryland guides →