Florida Statute 709.2202
“Authority that requires separate signed enumeration”
What it means
Some powers are dangerous enough that Florida will not let a general grant convey them. Section 709.2202 lists them — the authority to create a trust; amend, revoke, or terminate one; make a gift; create or change rights of survivorship; create or change a beneficiary designation; waive a joint-and-survivor annuity; or disclaim property. An agent may exercise any of these only if the principal separately signed or initialed next to that specific item in the document. A power of attorney that grants these in a lump, without the separate signatures, does not give the agent those powers.
- These powers require the principal to separately sign or initial each enumerated item — a lump grant does not convey them.
- The list includes making gifts and changing beneficiary designations — the acts most likely to move wealth away from an estate.
- It also covers creating or amending a trust, changing rights of survivorship, and disclaiming property.
- Amending or revoking a trust through a POA works only if the trust instrument explicitly allows it.
How it plays out
These are the powers that get abused, so the law makes them deliberate. When a family wants an agent to be able to make gifts — often for Medicaid or tax planning — we set out each superpower and have the principal initial the specific ones they intend, not a catch-all paragraph. We see the opposite failure too: an agent who assumed a standard POA let them add a name to a bank account or change a beneficiary, and it did not. If a power is not separately signed, treat it as absent.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 709.2202 does real work:
Questions people ask
