Power of Attorney in Texas: Durable and Medical (2026)

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A will decides what happens after you die. A power of attorney decides what happens while you are alive but unable to act for yourself, after a stroke, an accident, or a slide into dementia. It is the single most overlooked piece of an estate plan, and arguably the one that protects you most during your lifetime.

Texas recognizes two separate powers of attorney that do very different jobs: a durable (financial) power of attorney and a medical power of attorney. This guide explains both, how to create and revoke them, and why you want both in place.

Two documents, two jobs
  • Durable power of attorney covers money and property: banking, bills, real estate, taxes, investments. Governed by the Texas Estates Code.1
  • Medical power of attorney covers health care decisions when you cannot speak for yourself. Governed by the Texas Health and Safety Code.3

They are separate documents. Most people should have both.

The durable (statutory) power of attorney

A financial power of attorney names a person, called your agent or attorney-in-fact, to handle money and property matters for you. Texas provides a statutory durable power of attorney form in Section 752.051 of the Estates Code, with a menu of powers you can grant or withhold, from banking and real estate to taxes and business operations.2

The word durable is the key. An ordinary power of attorney ends the moment you become incapacitated, which is exactly when you need it most. A durable power of attorney keeps working through incapacity, because it includes language stating that it is not affected by your later disability or incapacity.1 Without that durability language, the document fails at the critical moment.

You can choose when it takes effect. A power of attorney can be effective immediately when you sign it, or "springing," meaning it activates only once a doctor certifies that you have become incapacitated. Immediate powers are simpler to use; springing powers add a certification step but delay your agent's authority until it is truly needed.

How to create a durable power of attorney in Texas

  1. Choose a trustworthy agent. This person will control your finances, so trust is everything. Name an alternate in case your first choice cannot serve.
  2. Select the powers. Using the statutory form, initial the categories of authority you want to grant.
  3. Include durability language so the power survives your incapacity.
  4. Sign before a notary. A Texas durable power of attorney must be signed and acknowledged before a notary public to be valid.1

The medical power of attorney

A medical power of attorney is a completely separate document, governed by Chapter 166 of the Texas Health and Safety Code. It lets you name an agent to make health care decisions for you, choosing doctors, consenting to or refusing treatment, and making decisions about care, when you are unable to make those decisions yourself.3

Unlike the financial power of attorney, a Texas medical power of attorney is signed in front of two qualified witnesses (or acknowledged before a notary), and at least one witness cannot be your agent, your relative, your heir, or your health care provider.3 It pairs naturally with a Directive to Physicians, or living will, which records your wishes about life-sustaining treatment. We cover that document in our guide to the Texas advance directive.

How to revoke a power of attorney

Both powers can be revoked at any time while you have capacity. To revoke a financial power of attorney, sign a written revocation and notify your agent and any institution that has relied on the document, such as your bank.1 A medical power of attorney can be revoked by notifying your agent or health care provider, orally or in writing, regardless of your mental state at the time.3 Creating a new power of attorney can also revoke an earlier one if it says so. Always retrieve or destroy old copies to avoid confusion.

A power of attorney ends at death. Both the financial and medical powers of attorney stop the instant you die. From that point, your will and your executor take over. That is exactly why you need both: a power of attorney protects you during life, and a will directs your property after death. One does not replace the other.

Why it belongs in your estate plan

Without a durable power of attorney, if you become incapacitated your family may have to go to court to be appointed guardian before they can pay your bills or manage your property, a slow, public, and costly process. Without a medical power of attorney, doctors and family may be left guessing about your wishes. Signing both documents now, while you are healthy, spares the people you love that ordeal. Pair them with a valid will and you have covered both halves of the plan: life and death. To complete the will side, see how to write a will in Texas or create your Texas will here. If you are weighing whether to handle this yourself, do you need a lawyer in Texas can help.

Sources

  1. 1Texas Estates Code Chapter 751, Durable Powers of Attorney (General Provisions) (statutes.capitol.texas.gov)
  2. 2Texas Estates Code Chapter 752, Statutory Durable Power of Attorney (form in Sec. 752.051) (statutes.capitol.texas.gov)
  3. 3Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 166, Advance Directives (Medical Power of Attorney) (statutes.capitol.texas.gov)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a durable and a medical power of attorney in Texas? A durable power of attorney covers finances and property; a medical power of attorney covers health care decisions. They are separate documents under different statutes.

Does a Texas power of attorney need to be notarized? A durable (financial) power of attorney must be notarized. A medical power of attorney is signed before two qualified witnesses or acknowledged before a notary.

What does "durable" mean? It means the power stays in effect even after you become incapacitated. A non-durable power ends the moment you lose capacity.

Can I revoke a power of attorney? Yes, at any time while you have capacity. Sign a written revocation and notify your agent and any institution relying on it.

Max Kuch

About the author

Max Kuch

Max Kuch writes about estate planning, wills and inheritance for Texas Will Template. He gathers the rules from the Texas statutes and the leading public data, then explains them in plain, accessible language so anyone can put their wishes in writing.

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Frequently asked questions

Yes, provided you finish it the right way. Under Tex. Est. Code Sec. 251.051 and 251.052, a holographic will is valid when it is written wholly in your own handwriting and signed by you. No witnesses are required and no date is required. What we hand you is a clean, correctly structured draft. It becomes a legally valid holographic will the moment you copy the whole thing out by hand on paper and sign it yourself.

Because Texas recognizes two separate paths, and printing points you toward the harder one. A typed or printed will has to be signed in front of two credible witnesses to be valid. A holographic will skips the witnesses entirely, but only if it is written completely in your own handwriting. If you print our draft and sign it alone, it is neither a valid witnessed will nor a valid holographic will. Copying the full text by hand is what makes the witness-free route work, so the handwriting is not a formality, it is the whole point.

Texas gives you unusually wide freedom here. There is no forced heirship and no elective share, so you are not required to leave a fixed portion to your spouse or to your children, and you can disinherit an adult child if you choose. One thing you cannot give away, though, is property that is not fully yours. Texas is a community property state, which means your surviving spouse already owns one half of everything the two of you acquired during the marriage. Your will can only dispose of your own half of the community property plus your separate property, so name what is genuinely yours to give.

Keep the signed original somewhere safe and dry, and make sure the person you named as executor knows exactly where it is, because a copy is far weaker than the original if the will ever has to be probated. If you want extra security, the clerk of the county where you live can hold your will for safekeeping during your lifetime under Tex. Est. Code Sec. 252.001, whether you are in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio or anywhere else in the state. Texas has no statewide will registry, so there is no central database to file it in.

We strongly recommend against a single shared document. A holographic will has to be wholly in one person's handwriting, so two people physically cannot create one valid handwritten will together. Beyond that, joint wills tend to lock the survivor into terms that are painful to change after the first death. The clean solution is two separate mirror wills, one in each spouse's own handwriting, each signed by that spouse. You can make them say almost the same thing while keeping each one independently valid and freely revocable.

Yes, and it is easy. A Texas will has no expiration, but life does not stand still, so revisit it after a marriage, a divorce, a birth, a death or a move. The safest way to make a change is to handwrite and sign a brand new holographic will that revokes all previous wills, then destroy the old signed original so no stale version can surface later. Avoid scribbling edits in the margins of a finished will, since alterations can raise doubt about what you actually intended.

No, and we do not pretend it does. This service gives you a solid, well-organized draft for a straightforward estate, which covers a great many Texas families perfectly well. But if your situation is complex, for example a blended family, a business, property in more than one state, a beneficiary with special needs or a plan that involves a trust, you should have a Texas estate attorney review it. Think of this as a strong, affordable starting point, not as legal advice.

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