General Power of Attorney, Special Power of Attorney

Your uncle lives in Dubai and needs his Navi Mumbai flat's maintenance and tax matters handled, and later wants one specific act done: signing a single lease. He cannot keep flying in. He can hand someone a document that says, in writing, what that person may do in his name. That document is a power of attorney, and its drafting decides whether the holder can do too little, too much, or the wrong thing. Which kind does each task need?

In two minutes

A power of attorney is a written authority by which a principal appoints an agent to act in the principal's name; a General Power of Attorney covers a broad range of acts, a Special Power of Attorney covers a named act or transaction, and both draw their legal force from the agency provisions of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

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