My bank accepts POA's if the account holder brings it to us and we add the Attorney in Fact to the account. We have had this practice for many years. My understanding is that many banks do not accept POA's at all. An attorney in our State (Florida) has said that we are not complying with State Statutes. I am curious as to how other banks are handling?

Thanks for sharing.

In some states, and I think Florida is one of them, you have to have a valid reason to refuse to accept a POA, even in cases in which it's not brought in by the principal. You normally get a period of time (four business days for banks in Florida) to obtain an opinion of counsel on the validity of the POA and/or obtain an English translation of the POA if it's not in English (at the expense of the principal), and there can be consequences of non-acceptance.

If I remember correctly Florida has different requirements than other states. At one time they required an actual crimped notary seal on the document and not just the stamped seal (I am not sure if it is still a requirement).

Here is a great pamplet from the Florida Bar Assoc.

Florida POA

Thanks all for the help!