Wyoming Power of Attorney

A Wyoming power of attorney names an agent to handle your money and property while you are alive. Wyoming makes it durable by default, so it keeps working if you lose capacity, and it is valid with nothing more than your signature. A notary is optional for validity. Notarize it anyway, because Wyoming only forces a bank to accept a power of attorney that a notary acknowledged.

The rules sit in Wyoming's version of the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, sections 3-9-101 through 3-9-403 of the Wyoming Statutes, printed in the Legislature's Title 3 PDF. Every section cited below was read in that official text, dated May 8, 2026, after the 2026 session. Use this page as a plain-language map of the statute, then have a Wyoming attorney draft or review the document you sign, because a power of attorney hands someone real control over your accounts.

One boundary shapes everything else on this site. A power of attorney ends when the principal dies (W.S. 3-9-110(a)(i)). The agent's authority stops, and a personal representative appointed by a Wyoming district court sitting in probate takes over. For what happens after that, start with the Wyoming probate guide.

Where Wyoming's Act Lives

The Legislature enacted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act in 2017 (Senate File 105, Laws 2017, ch. 117), and it took effect on January 1, 2018. The same act repealed the old durable power of attorney sections, 3-5-101 and 3-5-102. The act sits in Title 3, chapter 9, and W.S. 3-9-102(a)(xiv) defines it as 3-9-101 through 3-9-403.

W.S. 3-9-403 applies the act to a power of attorney created before, on or after that date. A document properly signed and valid on January 1, 2018 stays valid and enforceable, and an act done before that date is not affected. So an older Wyoming document still runs on these rules today.

Here is the numbering trap. Chapter 5 of Title 3 still carries the heading "Durable Power of Attorney", but the only section left in it is 3-5-103, a revocation rule for pre-2018 documents covered below. The live rules are all in chapter 9.

Durable By Default

Some states make you add magic words to keep a power of attorney alive after incapacity. Wyoming does not. W.S. 3-9-104(a) is one sentence:

A power of attorney created on or after the effective date of this act is durable unless it expressly provides that it is terminated by the incapacity of the principal.

Your document has to opt out of durability, in express words, to lose it. W.S. 3-9-110(a)(ii) mirrors that from the other side, ending a power of attorney on incapacity only if the document is not durable. A document signed before 2018 is durable only if it was durable under the law in force when you signed it (3-9-104(b)).

Wyoming defines incapacity at W.S. 3-9-102(a)(v) as being unable to manage property or business affairs because of an impairment in receiving and evaluating information or making or communicating decisions, even with technological help, or because you are missing, detained (including in a prison), or outside the United States and unable to return. A durable document keeps your bills paid through any of those.

Age does not wear it out either. Under 3-9-110(c), unless the document says otherwise, an agent's authority stays good no matter how long ago you signed.

Signing Rules: A Signature Is Enough

W.S. 3-9-105 is the whole execution rule, and it has two sentences. The first sets the requirement: the principal signs, or another person signs the principal's name in the principal's conscious presence at the principal's direction. The second attaches a benefit: a signature is presumed genuine if the principal acknowledges it before a notary public or another person authorized by law to take acknowledgments.

Here is what the act does not ask for:

• No witnesses. The notary-or-two-witnesses rule belongs to the power of attorney for health care under W.S. 35-22-403(b).
• No notary for validity. An acknowledgment earns a presumption, not validity.
• No signature from the agent. Under W.S. 3-9-113 an agent accepts by acting, by performing duties, or by any other conduct showing acceptance.

W.S. 3-9-106 turns that into the validity test. A document signed in Wyoming on or after January 1, 2018 is valid if it complies with 3-9-105. A document signed in another state is valid in Wyoming if it complied with the law that governs it under 3-9-107, or with W.S. 19-11-202 or the federal rules for a military power of attorney at 10 U.S.C. 1044b. A photocopy or electronically sent copy has the same effect as the original, unless another law says otherwise (3-9-106(d)).

The act also counts electronic records. W.S. 3-9-102(a)(vi) defines a power of attorney as a writing or other record, and 3-9-102(a)(xi) defines "sign" to include attaching an electronic sound, symbol or process. Whether your county clerk or your bank will take an electronically signed document is a separate question to ask them first.

Why You Should Notarize It Anyway

Four reasons, each written into Wyoming law.

Banks have to accept only a notarized one. W.S. 3-9-119 and 3-9-120 apply to an acknowledged power of attorney, which 3-9-119(e)(i) defines as one purportedly verified before a notary public or other person authorized to take acknowledgments. A document without a notary acknowledgment is still valid, but a bank can turn it away without facing the penalties below.

The signature is presumed genuine. That presumption in 3-9-105 is what lets a bank rely on the document under 3-9-119(a).

Real estate needs it. Wyoming's conveyancing title speaks to this directly. W.S. 34-1-104 lets the county clerk of any county where the land sits record a letter of attorney or other instrument containing a power to convey land, only when the owner acknowledged it, and a recorded copy then counts as evidence the same way a recorded deed does. W.S. 34-1-113 separately requires the person signing a deed to acknowledge it before a notarial officer. An agent selling your house will usually need a document the clerk can record.

The state's own form expects it. The statutory form in 3-9-301 ends in a block headed SIGNATURE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT, with lines for a notary's signature and commission date. That is sound practice even though 3-9-105 does not make it a condition of validity.

Banks Get Seven Business Days

Wyoming pairs a shield for whoever accepts the document with a penalty for whoever stalls.

Under 3-9-119(b), a person who in good faith accepts an acknowledged power of attorney, without actual knowledge that it is void, invalid or terminated, or that the agent is overstepping, may rely on it as if it were genuine and still in force. Under 3-9-119(c), that person may ask for, and rely on without further checking, two things: an agent's certification under penalty of perjury of any fact about the principal, agent or document, and an English translation if any part is in another language. You pay for either one (3-9-119(d)).

Wyoming's list stops there. The uniform act lets a bank also ask for an opinion of counsel, and Wyoming's 3-9-119(c) does not include one.

Then W.S. 3-9-120(a) supplies the clock. The person must accept, or ask for a certification or translation, within 7 business days after presentation, and must accept within 5 business days after receiving it. Nobody may demand an additional or different form of power of attorney for authority the presented document already grants.

Six grounds excuse a refusal under 3-9-120(b):

1. The person is not otherwise required to do business with the principal in the same circumstances
2. Doing the transaction with the agent or principal would be inconsistent with federal law
3. The person actually knows the power of attorney or the agent's authority ended before the agent used it
4. A request for a certification or translation was refused
5. The person believes in good faith that the document is not valid or the agent lacks authority for the act
6. The person made, or knows someone made, a report to a government agency that protects the principal, stating a good faith belief that the agent may be abusing, neglecting, exploiting or abandoning the principal

A refusal outside those grounds exposes the person to a court order mandating acceptance and to the reasonable attorney's fees and costs of the proceeding (3-9-120(c)). One limit remains. W.S. 3-9-122 says the act does not override other law that governs financial institutions, and that other law wins where the two conflict.

Immediate Or Springing

A Wyoming power of attorney works the day you sign it. W.S. 3-9-109(a) makes it effective when executed unless the document says it starts at a future date or on a future event. The statutory form says the same thing: effective immediately unless the Special Instructions say otherwise.

If you want a springing document, name who decides. Section 3-9-109(b) lets you authorize one or more people to decide in writing that the event happened. If the document springs on incapacity and you named nobody, or the person you named cannot or will not decide, 3-9-109(c) supplies a fallback:

• A physician or licensed psychologist decides the impairment limb of the incapacity definition.
• An attorney at law, a judge or an appropriate governmental official decides the missing, detained or outside-the-United-States limb.

Section 3-9-109(d) lets the person you authorized to make that call act as your HIPAA personal representative to reach the medical records the decision depends on.

Springing documents feel safer and cost you speed. Someone has to produce a written determination before your agent can act, which is a delay at the moment you needed help. That trade is a good question for a lawyer.

Eight Powers That Need Express Words

A general grant does not reach your estate plan. W.S. 3-9-201(a) lets an agent do these eight things only if the power of attorney expressly grants the authority, and only if no other agreement or instrument forbids it:

1. Create, amend, revoke or terminate an inter vivos trust
2. Make a gift
3. Create or change rights of survivorship
4. Create or change a beneficiary designation
5. Delegate authority granted under the power of attorney
6. Waive the principal's right to be a beneficiary of a joint and survivor annuity, including a survivor benefit under a retirement plan
7. Exercise fiduciary powers the principal has authority to delegate
8. Disclaim property, including a power of appointment

The Wyoming form makes this easy to get right. It carries a block headed GRANT OF SPECIFIC AUTHORITY (OPTIONAL) that lists all eight, and you grant each one by initialing it. The form warns that these powers could significantly reduce your property or change how it passes at your death, and tells you to initial only the ones you want.

Section 3-9-201(b) adds a guard. Unless the document says otherwise, an agent who is not your ancestor, spouse or descendant may not use those powers to create an interest in your property for the agent or for someone the agent must legally support. The form repeats that under LIMITATION ON AGENT'S AUTHORITY, and points you to the Special Instructions if you want to allow it.

Three more rules finish the section. A grant to do all acts you could do gives the general authority of 3-9-204 through 3-9-216, and nothing more (3-9-201(c)). Where granted subjects overlap, the broadest authority controls (3-9-201(e)). And the authority reaches property you own at signing or acquire later, in Wyoming or elsewhere (3-9-201(f)).

Gifts Follow A Federal Cap

Wyoming writes no dollar figure for gifts. Under W.S. 3-9-217(a), unless the document says otherwise, gift authority lets the agent give per donee no more than the annual federal gift tax exclusion under section 2503(b) of the Internal Revenue Code, or twice that if your spouse agrees to split the gift under section 2513. The cap moves when the IRS adjusts the federal exclusion.

Section 3-9-217(b) also limits why a gift is made. The agent gives only as fits your objectives, if known, and otherwise your best interest, weighing your property, your foreseeable needs, taxes, eligibility for public benefits, and your own history of giving. A gift "for the benefit of" someone includes a gift to a trust, a Uniform Transfers to Minors Act account, or a 529 plan (3-9-217(c)). If you want a different scale of giving, say so in the document.

What Your Agent Owes You

W.S. 3-9-114 sorts the agent's duties into two groups.

Duties your document cannot switch off (3-9-114(a)): act on your reasonable expectations as far as the agent knows them and otherwise in your best interest, act in good faith, and act only within the authority granted.

Duties your document can change (3-9-114(b)): act loyally for you, avoid conflicts that impair impartial judgment, use the care, competence and diligence ordinarily expected of agents, keep a record of all receipts, disbursements and transactions, cooperate with whoever makes your health care decisions, and try to preserve your known estate plan when that fits your best interest.

Section 3-9-114(h) is the accountability valve. The agent does not have to share records unless a court orders it or one of these asks: you, a guardian, a conservator, another fiduciary acting for you, a protective government agency, or, after your death, your personal representative or successor in interest. Once asked, the agent has 30 days to comply or explain in writing why more time is needed, and then 30 more days to comply.

Three companion sections round it out. W.S. 3-9-112 entitles the agent to reimbursement of reasonable expenses and to compensation that is reasonable under the circumstances, with no fee schedule. W.S. 3-9-111 lets coagents act independently unless you say otherwise, and lets a successor act only after every earlier agent has resigned, died, become incapacitated, become unqualified or declined. An agent who learns another agent is breaching a duty must tell you and, if you are incapacitated, take reasonable steps to protect you (3-9-111(d)).

The Wyoming Statutory Form

W.S. 3-9-301 prints the State of Wyoming Statutory Form Power of Attorney. A document that closely follows that form carries the meaning the act gives it. Using it is optional.

You grant general authority by initialing any of 13 subjects, or one line marked All Preceding Subjects: Real Property, Tangible Personal Property, Stocks and Bonds, Commodities and Options, Banks and Other Financial Institutions, Operation of Entity or Business, Insurance and Annuities, Estates, Trusts and Other Beneficial Interests, Claims and Litigation, Personal and Family Maintenance, Benefits from Governmental Programs or Civil or Military Service, Retirement Plans, and Taxes. The eight specific powers follow in their own initialed block.

The form's opening notes tell you four things worth knowing. It does not authorize health care decisions. Your agent is entitled to reasonable compensation unless you say otherwise. It names one agent, a successor agent and a second successor agent, and a coagent goes in the Special Instructions, where coagents need not act together unless you require it. And it takes effect immediately unless the Special Instructions say otherwise. It also lets you nominate a conservator of your estate or a guardian of your person, and it closes with a page headed IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR AGENT, which tells the agent to sign as "(Principal's Name) by (Your Signature) as Agent".

W.S. 3-9-302 prints a second optional form, the agent's certification as to the validity of the power of attorney, signed under penalty of perjury before a notary. That is the paper a bank may ask your agent to bring under 3-9-119(c).

How A Wyoming Power Of Attorney Ends

W.S. 3-9-110(a) lists six ways the document itself ends:

• The principal dies
• The principal becomes incapacitated, if the document is not durable
• The principal revokes it
• The document says it ends
• Its purpose is accomplished
• The principal revokes the agent's authority, or the agent dies, becomes incapacitated or resigns, and no other agent is named

Section 3-9-110(b) separately ends an agent's authority. The divorce rule is the one that surprises people: a spouse-agent's authority ends when an action for dissolution, annulment or legal separation is filed, not when the decree is entered, unless your document says otherwise (3-9-110(b)(iii)).

Signing a new document does not cancel the old one on its own. Under 3-9-110(f), a later power of attorney revokes an earlier one only if it says the previous one, or all others, are revoked. The act prescribes no method of revocation, so put yours in writing and deliver it. Tell your agent and every bank or company that has been relying on the old document, because under 3-9-110(d) an agent or third party who acts in good faith without actual knowledge of the revocation still binds you.

Two recording rules can add a step:

• A power recorded for land. Under W.S. 34-1-105, a letter of attorney recorded with a county clerk is not treated as revoked unless the revocation is also recorded in the same office. If your agent's power was recorded to sell or mortgage land, record the revocation there too.
• A power signed before 2018. W.S. 3-5-103 lets you revoke a power of attorney executed before January 1, 2018 the ordinary way, or by recording an instrument of revocation, with a true copy of the power attached, in the county clerk's office of the county where you live. Recording gives constructive notice from that date.

Your Agent And A Court-Appointed Conservator

A durable power of attorney keeps you in charge of who acts for you, even if a court gets involved later. W.S. 3-9-108(a) lets you nominate a conservator of your estate, or a guardian of your person, inside the power of attorney. Except for good cause or disqualification, the court appoints according to your most recent nomination.

If a court appoints a conservator or other fiduciary over your property anyway, 3-9-108(b) says the power of attorney is not terminated. The agent keeps acting unless the court limits, suspends or ends that authority, and answers to the conservator as well as to you. That is why a financial power of attorney is the everyday route to avoiding a guardianship or conservatorship case.

Health Care Is A Separate Document

W.S. 3-9-103(a)(ii) takes a power to make health care decisions out of the act, and the statutory form says so on its face. A Wyoming financial power of attorney cannot carry medical authority, whatever its wording.

Wyoming appoints a health care agent through a power of attorney for health care under the Wyoming Health Care Decisions Act, W.S. 35-22-403(b). Its signing rule is stricter than the financial document's: it must be in writing and signed, and it must be acknowledged before a notarial officer or signed by at least two witnesses. It also bars an owner, operator or employee of the residential or community care facility where you receive care from serving as your agent, unless related to you by blood, marriage or adoption. For the medical side, read about a health care power of attorney in our Wyoming advance directive guide. Section 3-9-114(b)(v) then requires your financial agent to cooperate with whoever holds the medical authority.

Section 3-9-103(a) excludes three other things: a power coupled with an interest, such as one given to a creditor in a loan, a proxy to vote or manage rights in an entity, and a power on a form a government prescribes for its own purpose, such as a tax agency's authorization form.

Wyoming also keeps a separate spousal rule in its conveyancing title. W.S. 34-1-129 lets a husband or wife appoint the other as attorney-in-fact over his or her property, and revoke that appointment, the same way anyone else can.

When An Agent Misuses The Power

The act's remedy is civil. W.S. 3-9-117 makes an agent who violates it liable to you or your successors for what it takes to restore your property to where it would have been, plus the attorney's fees and costs paid on the agent's behalf.

W.S. 3-9-116 is the door into court. You, the agent, a guardian or conservator, your health care decision-maker, your spouse, parent or descendant, a presumptive heir, a named beneficiary, a caregiver or another person who shows enough interest in your welfare, or anyone asked to accept the document may ask a court to construe it or review the agent's conduct. A capable principal stays in charge: on your motion the court must dismiss the petition unless it finds you lack capacity to revoke.

The criminal code reaches the worst cases. W.S. 35-20-102(a)(ix) defines exploitation of a vulnerable adult to include any use of a power of attorney to take control of the adult's money by deception or undue influence, and abusing "the fiduciary duty under a power of attorney". W.S. 6-2-507 makes exploitation of a vulnerable adult a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both (6-2-507(d)), and treats reckless exploitation as a misdemeanor (6-2-507(b)).

Power Of Attorney Compared With Probate

A power of attorney keeps your affairs moving during a bad stretch while you are alive. It moves nothing out of probate. For where it sits among your other planning documents, see Wyoming estate planning basics, and for tools that do skip probate, read how to avoid probate in Wyoming.

When To Talk With A Wyoming Attorney

Bring in a Wyoming attorney when:

• You want your agent to make gifts, change beneficiaries or touch a trust
• You own real estate, mineral interests, a business, or property in another state
• Your family may disagree about who should serve
• You want safeguards against financial abuse built into the document
• You are choosing between an immediate document and a springing one
• You plan to sign electronically
• You downloaded a form and cannot tell whether it was written for Wyoming

This page explains the rules so you arrive with better questions. A lawyer can adapt the statutory form, write the express grants you intend, and make sure the document works on the day your agent needs it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a Wyoming power of attorney have to be notarized?

Not to be valid. W.S. 3-9-105 requires only that the principal sign it, or that another person sign the principal's name in the principal's conscious presence at the principal's direction. A notary acknowledgment makes the signature presumed genuine, and W.S. 3-9-119 and 3-9-120 protect and require acceptance only of an acknowledged power of attorney. A county clerk may record a power to convey land only when the owner acknowledged it (W.S. 34-1-104). So notarize it, even though the statute does not make you.

Is a Wyoming power of attorney durable by default?

Yes. W.S. 3-9-104(a) says a power of attorney created on or after January 1, 2018 is durable unless it expressly provides that it is terminated by the incapacity of the principal. You need no special durability words.

Does a Wyoming power of attorney need witnesses?

No. Nothing in W.S. 3-9-105 or the rest of the Uniform Power of Attorney Act asks for a witness. The notary-or-two-witnesses rule belongs to the Wyoming power of attorney for health care under W.S. 35-22-403(b), a different document.

Does Wyoming have an official power of attorney form?

Yes, and using it is optional. W.S. 3-9-301 prints the State of Wyoming Statutory Form Power of Attorney. You initial any of 13 subjects, or All Preceding Subjects, to grant general authority, and a separate optional block lets you initial eight specific powers such as making gifts or changing a beneficiary designation. W.S. 3-9-302 prints an optional agent's certification.

Can a Wyoming power of attorney cover medical decisions?

No. W.S. 3-9-103(a)(ii) takes a power to make health care decisions out of the act, and the statutory form says this power of attorney does not authorize the agent to make health care decisions for you. Wyoming handles that with a separate power of attorney for health care under W.S. 35-22-403.

Does a Wyoming bank have to accept a power of attorney?

It has to accept an acknowledged (notarized) one, on a clock. W.S. 3-9-120(a) gives the bank 7 business days after presentation to accept it or ask for an agent's certification or an English translation, and 5 business days after receiving that item to accept. The bank may not demand its own form. Six grounds in 3-9-120(b) excuse a refusal, and an unlawful refusal exposes the bank to a court order and attorney's fees under 3-9-120(c).

When does a Wyoming power of attorney end?

W.S. 3-9-110(a) ends it when the principal dies, becomes incapacitated if the document is not durable, revokes it, when the document says it ends, when its purpose is accomplished, or when the last available agent stops serving. Under 3-9-110(b)(iii) a spouse-agent's authority ends when an action for divorce, annulment or legal separation is filed, unless the document says otherwise.

This guide is general information about Wyoming powers of attorney. Confirm anything that affects your situation with a licensed Wyoming attorney before you sign, because a power of attorney controls real money and property.

Sources:

• Title: W.S. 3-9-101 through 3-9-403, Uniform Power of Attorney Act (sections 3-9-102, 3-9-103, 3-9-104, 3-9-105, 3-9-106, 3-9-107, 3-9-108, 3-9-109, 3-9-110, 3-9-111, 3-9-112, 3-9-113, 3-9-114, 3-9-116, 3-9-117, 3-9-119, 3-9-120, 3-9-122, 3-9-201, 3-9-217, 3-9-301, 3-9-302 and 3-9-403), in Title 3, Guardian and Ward. Publisher: Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming Statutes. Publication Date: 2026-05-08, accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title03.pdf
• Title: W.S. 3-5-103, Revocation of power of attorney by recordation. Publisher: Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming Statutes. Publication Date: 2026-05-08, accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title03.pdf
• Title: Enrolled Act No. 41, Senate, Uniform Power of Attorney Act (2017 SF0105, Laws 2017, ch. 117, effective January 1, 2018). Publisher: Wyoming Legislature. Publication Date: 2017-03-02, accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/2017/Enroll/SF0105.pdf
• Title: W.S. 34-1-104, Letters of attorney; recordation; effect as evidence, and W.S. 34-1-105, Letters of attorney; recordation; when revocation valid. Publisher: Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming Statutes. Publication Date: 2026-05-08, accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title34.pdf
• Title: W.S. 34-1-113, Acknowledgment of conveyances; generally, and W.S. 34-1-129, Husband or wife may appoint each other as attorney-in-fact to control interests. Publisher: Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming Statutes. Publication Date: 2026-05-08, accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title34.pdf
• Title: W.S. 35-22-403, Advance health care directives. Publisher: Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming Statutes. Publication Date: 2026-05-08, accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf
• Title: W.S. 35-20-102, Definitions (exploitation of a vulnerable adult). Publisher: Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming Statutes. Publication Date: 2026-05-08, accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf
• Title: W.S. 6-2-507, Abuse, neglect, abandonment, intimidation or exploitation of a vulnerable adult; penalties. Publisher: Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming Statutes. Publication Date: 2026-05-08, accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title06.pdf

It is not legal advice.