N.Y. General Obligations Law 5-1511 – Termination or revocation of power of attorney; notice
§ 5-1511. Termination or revocation of power of attorney; notice. 1. A power of attorney terminates when:
Terms Used In N.Y. General Obligations Law 5-1511
- Agent: means a person granted authority to act as attorney-in-fact for the principal under a power of attorney, and includes the original agent and any co-agent or successor agent. See N.Y. General Obligations Law 5-1501
- Financial institution: means a financial entity, including, but not limited to: a bank, trust company, national bank, savings bank, federal mutual savings bank, savings and loan association, federal savings and loan association, federal mutual savings and loan association, credit union, federal credit union, branch of a foreign banking corporation, public pension fund, retirement system, securities broker, securities dealer, securities firm, and insurance company. See N.Y. General Obligations Law 5-1501
- Incapacitated: means to be without capacity. See N.Y. General Obligations Law 5-1501
- Person: means an individual, whether acting for himself or herself, or as a fiduciary or as an official of any legal, governmental or commercial entity (including, but not limited to, any such entity identified in this subdivision), corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision, government agency, government entity, government instrumentality, public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity. See N.Y. General Obligations Law 5-1501
- Power of attorney: means a written document, other than a document referred to in section 5-1501C of this title, by which a principal with capacity designates an agent to act on his or her behalf and includes both a statutory short form power of attorney and a non-statutory power of attorney. See N.Y. General Obligations Law 5-1501
- Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
- Principal: means an individual who is eighteen years of age or older, acting for himself or herself and not as a fiduciary or as an official of any legal, governmental or commercial entity, who executes a power of attorney. See N.Y. General Obligations Law 5-1501
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See N.Y. General Obligations Law 5-1501
- Third party: means a financial institution or person other than a principal or an agent. See N.Y. General Obligations Law 5-1501
(a) the principal dies;
(b) the principal becomes incapacitated, if the power of attorney is not durable;
(c) the principal revokes the power of attorney;
(d) the principal revokes the agent's authority and there is no co-agent or successor agent, or no co-agent or successor agent who is willing or able to serve;
(e) the agent dies, becomes incapacitated or resigns and there is no co-agent or successor agent or no co-agent or successor agent who is willing or able to serve;
(f) the authority of the agent terminates and there is no co-agent or successor agent or no co-agent or successor agent who is willing or able to serve;
(g) the purpose of the power of attorney is accomplished; or
(h) a court order revokes the power of attorney as provided in section 5-1510 of this title or in § 81.29 of the mental hygiene law.
2. An agent's authority terminates when:
(a) the principal revokes the agent's authority;
(b) the agent dies, becomes incapacitated or resigns;
(c) the agent's marriage to the principal is terminated by divorce or annulment, as defined in subparagraph two of paragraph (f) of section 5-1.4 of the estates, powers and trusts law, unless the power of attorney expressly provides otherwise. If the authority of an agent is revoked solely by this subdivision, it shall be revived by the principal's remarriage to the former spouse; or
(d) the power of attorney terminates.
3. A principal may revoke a power of attorney:
(a) in accordance with the terms of the power of attorney; or
(b) by delivering a revocation of the power of attorney to the agent in person or by sending a signed and dated revocation by mail, courier, electronic transmission or facsimile to the agent's last known address. The agent must comply with the principal's revocation notwithstanding the actual or perceived incapacity of the principal unless the principal is subject to a guardianship under Article eighty-one of the mental hygiene law.
4. Where a power of attorney has been recorded pursuant to § 294 of the real property law, the principal shall also record the revocation in the office in which the power of attorney is recorded pursuant to § 326 of the real property law, provided the revocation complies with § 307 of the state technology law.
5. (a) Termination of an agent's authority or of the power of attorney is not effective as to any third party who has not received actual notice of the termination and acts in good faith under the power of attorney. Any action so taken, unless otherwise invalid or unenforceable, shall bind the principal and the principal's successors in interest. A financial institution is deemed to have actual notice after it has had a reasonable opportunity to act on a written notice of the revocation or termination following receipt of the same at its office where an account is located.
(b) Termination of an agent's authority or of the power of attorney is not effective as to the agent until the agent has received a revocation as required by subdivision three of this section. An agent is deemed to have received a revocation when it has been delivered to the agent in person, or within a reasonable time after it has been sent by mail, courier, electronic transmission or facsimile in accordance with subdivision three of this section.
6. The execution of a power of attorney does not revoke any power of attorney previously executed by the principal.