Power of Attorney (POA)

What is a Power of Attorney document?

A power of attorney or POA contract empowers one or more parties (the agent), the power of authority to act as a legal representative for an individual or a party (the principal) in their absence or otherwise incapacitated mentally or physically.

she wanted to steal my house

Power of Attorney Law

For Power of Attorney to work, these are the requirements:

  1. the document is stamped
  2. the Agent appointed must be honest and trustworthy
  3. there must be a clear contract indicating who the Agent is and who is the Principal
  4. the duty of the Agent must be clear.
  5. The contract must be signed by both the Agent and the Principal and notarised by a JP/ Notary Public to verify each particpant’s signature.
  6. The document must be stamped by the Tax office and the required stamp duty paid.
  7. The contractual document must be registered at the Registrar General Department (RGD). Currently, there are 10 RGD offices located throughout the island.

Power of Attorney Document Requirements:

  1. Dated
  2. Name and address of Agent and Principal
  3. Conditions of the contract
  4. Duration of the contract
  5. Seal of the JP/Notary Public

Registration of Power of Attorney

Once all of this is in place, the final stop is at the RGD office, and the following will take place:

  1. a reference number is assigned to the original document
  2. a copy of the document is made and secured in RGD safety vault
  3. the Agent is given the original document to conduct business on behalf of the Principal.
  4. The Agent is set to go

Types of Power of Attorney

There are 3 types of Power of Attorney

  1. Limited Powers – this allows the agent to carry out an individual task during a specific time period. For example purchasing land or a car.
  2. Durable Powers – this allows an Agent to make decision for the Principal after they are mentally/physically incapacitated. This agreement should be in place before the Principal is mentally/physically incapacitated.
  3. General Powers – this allows the agent to carry out any type of business on behalf of the Principal.

The power of Attorney starts when the document is registered at RGD.

End of Power of Attorney

The Power of Attorney will end for any of the following reasons:

  1. The task assigned is completed
  2. At the specified end date in the contract
  3. The Principal revokes/end the Power of Attorney
  4. The Principal dies.

Without a POA

If you agree verbally to have someone conduct business on your behalf and your trust and instructions are violated in the process. The individual would only be liable for a civil case, should you pursue this in the courts. The onus would be on you to prove this has occurred leaving the individual responsible civilly.

Penalty for Violation of POA

Agreeing to and signing a POA is a great responsibility, if the Agent overrides and does more than the Power of Attorney document requires them to do, they can be liable for criminal prosecution in the courts of Jamaica.

Story:

Here is a story about someone who did not sign a POA document in a matter that required one.

“She wanted to steal my house!!!😲”

Remember Marie* who shared her story about personal loans. She also wants to share another story with you.

Lack of Power of Attorney Story

“So remember when I told you about my cousin stealing from me, after I gave her, and her  children a place to stay, when she had nowhere to go?

Well she didn’t just steal money, she also stole legal documentation to my land which my house was built on.

Why she would do that 🤔? you might ask, she acted as an Agent for me in the purchase of the property and we didn’t sign any papers.

See where I am going with this 🙄.

I actually discovered this plot of hers just before I put her out, in fact, the same day.

Then I hired an attorney 💪.

Got her out of my house FAST! Then the extortion started.

Constantly, sending messages to me through other people, that in order to have the land signed over to me, she would need $500,000. At this point, I had already spent $6 million on the property. And I wasn’t, going to give her another dime.

Now I know exactly what Taylor Swift meant in her song “Look What You Made Me Do”, the lyrics 🎶“you asked me for a place to sleep… locked me out and threw a feast”🎶

I sure wish I had sought an attorney before I got into all this mess that she convinced me to do. I have to say, I had doubts all the way, and I wasn’t following my instincts.

This case lasted for years in the Supreme Court and it cost a lot of money, energy, and time, it was exhausting.

I obviously won the case, but to show you how brazen her and her mother were. They showed up to court with the stolen documents and no lawyer expecting the judge was going to sign the house over to them.

Evidence

They were in for a fight because I had the bank transfer receipt of the land purchase to the original landowner plus their affidavit stating they sold me the land.

I had more than a thousand receipts in my name of building materials and a meticulous spreadsheet showing all the house expenses, date, cost of materials since the first day I started the project.

Here is a photo of all my receipts, there are thousands!

My lawyer actually commented that she had never met someone who kept such meticulous records of their house building expenditure before.

This is a photo of one of the spreadsheets I created during construction of all my expenses, materials, delivery, fees, and payments to construction workers. At the time, there were over 4,000 excel entries recorded.

Too bad I didn’t seek a lawyer before getting into all that mess 😏”

Below shows a copy of all documents filed in the Supreme Court these included a copy of my spreadsheet, copy of many receipts, signed affidavits, email communications, bank transfer receipts etc.

My lawyer actually commented that she had never met someone who kept such meticulous records of their house building expenditure before.

This is a photo of one of the spreadsheets I created during construction of all my expenses, materials, delivery, fees, and payments to construction workers. At the time, there were over 4,000 excel entries recorded.

Too bad I didn’t seek a lawyer before getting into all that mess 😏”

Power of Attorney Pitfalls

It’s in our culture to ask family members or close friends to do something for us that may require legal temporary ownership of our most prized possessions, (but in Marie’s* case family volunteering to act as Agent) without a proper legal contract in place which acknowledges the arrangement.

This may be because you are:

  • overseas or
  • your id has expired or
  • there are some time constraints which cannot facilitate you
  • you are incapacitated/ sick

The asset could be, a car, house or land, any type of property that requires legal documentation which indicates ownership.

This type of situation is called Power of Attorney.

Conclusion

I hope this helps you understand how easy it is for you to assign a power of attorney legally, and the pitfalls you might face if you do not have signed contracts in place when dealing with family and loved ones.

Here you can download a SPECIFIC POWER OF ATTORNEY document to protect yourself.

Download for free

Fill your details in to download the specific Power of Attorney document. Don’t forget, the document must be registered at RGD in order for it to be effective.

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