Power of Attorney for Overseas Use, Signed Before a Singapore Notary

The right POA is the narrowest one that still lets your attorney finish the job. A general POA covers many acts; a special POA covers named acts only. Receivers abroad — land registries, banks, courts — increasingly prefer special POAs because they are easier to verify and harder to misuse.

A Singapore Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a different instrument, made for use in Singapore if you lose mental capacity. It is not a substitute for a POA an overseas registry or bank will accept, and vice versa.

Five checks prevent most rejected POAs: the receiver's format, the scope of powers, matching names, the right language, and how many originals you need. Do them before the appointment, because after the notary and SAL have acted, every correction means starting again.

1. Get the receiver's format. Banks, land offices and courts abroad often have their own template or mandatory clauses. Ask the actual receiver — the bank branch, the registry, your overseas lawyer — for it in writing.
2. Define the powers and the end date. List the acts, the property or account, and when the POA expires. Open-ended powers invite refusal and risk.
3. Match every name. Your name as on your passport; the attorney's name as on their ID; the property owner as on the title. A mismatch can be fixed with a declaration, but it is cheaper to fix the draft.
4. Settle the language. If the receiver needs the local language, decide whether you sign a bilingual POA or have a certified translation attached — the order matters for legalisation.
5. Decide how many originals. An attorney dealing with a bank and a registry at the same time may need two notarised and legalised originals. Doing them together costs less than coming back.

We review drafts against these checks. We do not draft or give legal advice on foreign law — your lawyer or the receiving party should confirm the wording.

Wherever you sign, the rule is the same: you appear in person before the Notary Public with original ID and sign the unsigned POA in front of them. Choose the location that gets every signer there with the least disruption. What to bring and how the appointment runs are on our notarisation service page.

• At our office — lowest cost, quickest to book. 7 Temasek Boulevard, #12-07 Suntec Tower One · Mon–Fri 9am–9pm, Sat–Sun 10am–6pm
• At home — for elderly parents, couples with children, or anyone unwell. Hospital and capacity considerations are covered on our mobile notary page.
• At your office — for company POAs or when several directors sign together.

Many clients combine the signing, the SAL step and courier to the attorney abroad in a single booking.

After notarisation, a POA for a Hague Convention country needs only the SAL apostille. A POA for a non-Hague country needs SAL legalisation and then that country's embassy or high commission in Singapore, and often a further step once it arrives.

India is the POA destination we see most. Whether to use an apostille or the Indian High Commission, and what happens to the POA in India, is explained on our India power of attorney page rather than repeated here.

Costs are itemised: from S$219 per POA, including the notary fee and SAL's S$87.20 per notarised document (incl. GST, at the time of writing); an embassy step, where needed, from S$99 per document plus the embassy fee at cost; a home or office visit from S$89; delivery from S$12. The prices shown above are starting prices. Your final price depends on the document type, number of pages and destination country, and will be confirmed in a written quotation before any work begins. Signing takes one appointment of 15–20 minutes; SAL usually processes the notarised POA on the spot once we submit it; embassy stages vary.

When you don't need this: if the POA will only be used in Singapore, you need a local lawyer or Commissioner for Oaths, not a notary and apostille. And if you will be in the destination country yourself, signing there may be simpler.

To revoke a POA used overseas, sign a written revocation — usually with the same formalities as the original, so notarised and legalised if it will be relied on abroad — and give notice to the attorney and every institution holding a copy. Revocation that nobody hears about protects nobody.

A practical sequence:

1. Draft the revocation identifying the original POA by date, parties and, if registered, its registration number.
2. Sign before the notary and legalise it for the same country as the original.
3. Notify in writing — the attorney, banks, the land registry, lawyers, anyone who received the POA.
4. Register it where the original was registered. In some countries a POA registered with a land office stays on record until a revocation is registered there too.
5. Ask for the original POA back from the attorney.

Replacing an attorney? A new POA should state expressly that it revokes earlier ones, and you should still notify the previous attorney and third parties. How revocation works in the destination country is a question for a lawyer there.