709.01 Power of attorney; authority of nominee when principal
dead.
If any agent, constituted by power of attorney or other authority,
shall do any act for his or her principal which would be lawful if such
principal were living, the same shall be valid and binding on the estate
of said principal, although he or she may have died before such act was
done; provided, the party treating with such agent dealt bona fide, not
knowing at the time of the doing of such act that such principal was dead.
An affidavit, executed by the attorney in fact or agent setting forth that
he or she has not or had not, at the time of doing any act pursuant to
the power of attorney, received actual knowledge or actual notice of the
death of the principal, or notice of any facts indicating his or her death,
shall in the absence of fraud be conclusive proof of the absence of knowledge
or notice by the agent of the death of the principal at such time. If the
exercise of the power requires the execution and delivery of any instrument
which is recordable under the laws of this state, such affidavit shall
likewise be recordable. No report or listing,either official or otherwise,
of "missing" or "missing in action" regarding any person in connection
with any activity pertaining to or connected with the prosecution of any
hostilities in which the United States is then engaged, as such words "missing"
or "missing in action" are used in military parlance, shall constitute
or be interpreted as constituting actual knowledge or actual notice of
the death of such principal, or notice of any facts indicating the death
of such person, or shall operate to revoke the agency.
709.015 Power of attorney; authority of agent when principal
listed as missing.
(1) The acts of an agent under a power of attorney or other
authority shall be as valid and as binding on the principal or her or his
estate as if the principal were alive and competent if, in connection with
any activity pertaining to hostilities in which the United States is then
engaged, the principal is officially listed or reported by a branch of
the United States Armed Forces in a missing status as defined in 37 U.S.C.S.
551 or 5 U.S.C.S. 5561, regardless of whether the principal is then dead,
alive, or incompetent.
(2) If the exercise of the power of attorney requires the
execution and delivery of a recordable instrument, the power of attorney
shall be executed with the same formalities as required of the instrument
itself and recorded pursuant to the laws of Florida.
(3) Upon request of the person dealing with the agent, the
agent shall make an affidavit that she or he has not received notice, and
has no knowledge, that the principal is incompetent. In the absence of
fraud, the affidavit shall be conclusively presumed to establish the agent's
lack of notice or knowledge of the principal's incompetence.
(4) Homestead property held as tenants by the entireties shall
not be conveyed by a power of attorney regulated by this section until
1 year following the first official report or listing of the principal
as missing or missing in action. An affidavit of an officer of the armed
forces having maintenance and control of the records pertaining to those
missing or missing in action that the principal has been in that status
for a given period shall be a conclusive presumption of that fact.
(5) This section applies to powers of attorney heretofore
and hereafter executed.
709.02 Power of appointment; method of release.
Powers of appointment over any property, real, personal, intangible
or mixed, may be released, in whole or in part, by a written instrument
signed by the donee or donees of such powers. Such written releases shall
be signed in the presence of two witnesses but need not be sealed, acknowledged
or recorded in order to be valid, nor shall it be necessary to the validity
of such releases for spouses of married donees to join such donees in the
execution of releases, in whole or part, of powers of appointment.
709.03 Power of appointment; property held in trust.
If property subject to a power of appointment is held in trust by
a person, firm or corporation other than the donee or donees of the power,
a written release, in whole or in part, of a power to appoint the same
shall be delivered to such trustee or trustees before the written release
becomes legally effective. In no other instance shall a delivery of a release,
in whole or in part, of a power of appointment be necessary to the validity
of such release.
709.04 Power of appointment; effect of release.
Any power of appointment wholly released by a written instrument
signed by the donee or donees of such power shall be, in legal effect,
completely revoked, and shall not, after such release, be subject to being
exercised in any manner whatsoever. Any power of appointment partially
released by a written instrument signed by the donee or donees of such
power shall be, in legal effect, as to such released part, completely revoked,
and shall not after such release be subject to being exercised in any manner
whatsoever as to such released part.
709.05 Powers of appointment; validation of prior releases.
All releases, in whole or in part, of powers of appointment heretofore
executed in a manner that conforms with the provisions of this law be and
they are hereby validated and shall be given the same force and effect
as if executed subsequently to the effective date of this law.
709.06 Powers of appointment included in law.
Powers of appointment referred to in this law shall include not
only those recognized as such by general law but also those designated
as such under the tax law of the United States.
709.07 Power of appointment; effect of release on title
to property.
No such release, in whole or in part, of a power of appointment
shall affect the title to property of any bona fide purchaser for value
who does not have notice or knowledge of such release.
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General Power of Attorney - Nondurable
