Kentucky Power of Attorney (Limited, Sale of Real Estate)

A Kentucky limited power of attorney for the sale of real estate hands one job to one trusted person: sell this parcel, sign the deed, and collect the proceeds. This form prepares that instrument under the Kentucky Uniform Power of Attorney Act, KRS Chapter 457, for one principal, one agent, and one described property, built to be recorded with the county clerk under KRS 382.370.

One parcel, one sale, and nothing else

The grant is narrow on purpose. It appoints the agent, whom Kentucky law also calls an attorney-in-fact, and authorizes that agent to sell and convey the described property: to list it and sign the contract of sale, to sign and deliver the deed with or without warranties, to sign the consideration certificate that KRS 382.135 requires in every Kentucky deed, to pay off and release liens from the proceeds, and to receive the net proceeds and deposit them in the principal's name. The same section draws the boundary: no authority over any other property, and none of the powers KRS 457.245(1) reserves to an express grant, so the agent cannot give the property away, add a survivorship right, or change a beneficiary designation.

Authority that ends when the deed is delivered

KRS 457.100(1) lists the events that end a Kentucky power of attorney, and one is specific to an instrument like this: a power of attorney that states a purpose terminates when the purpose is accomplished. The form says so expressly, providing that the authority ends when the authorized sale is completed and the deed delivered, or earlier on the principal's death, on revocation, or on any other event the statute names. The instrument is durable under KRS 457.040, which makes every power of attorney under the chapter survive the principal's incapacity unless the document says otherwise, and it is effective when signed under KRS 457.090. Both defaults are printed on the face of the instrument.

Why this instrument gets recorded

Kentucky treats a power of attorney to convey land as a recording instrument. KRS 382.370 provides that such a power may be acknowledged and recorded in the manner prescribed for conveyances, and that where the deed made under it must be recorded to be good against creditors and purchasers, the power must be lodged or recorded in like manner. Clerks record the power with, or ahead of, the deed the agent signs, and the same section fixes how a recorded power is revoked: by a written revocation acknowledged like a conveyance and lodged in the same office.

Signing under the 2020 execution rule

Since July 15, 2020, KRS 457.050 requires only the principal's signature, presumed genuine when acknowledged before a notary public; the two-witness requirement of the 2018 act is gone. The form carries one signature block for the principal and one acknowledgment certificate in the Kentucky statutory short form under KRS 423.160(1), with lines for the commission number and expiration date that KRS 423.360 makes certificate content. The agent does not sign the power of attorney. The agent's later signature on the deed is acknowledged under the attorney-in-fact short form in KRS 423.160(4).

The configuration this form carries

The instrument identifies exactly one principal signing in that person's own right, one agent, and an optional successor agent who acts under KRS 457.110(2) only if the first agent resigns, dies, becomes incapacitated, is not qualified, or declines to serve. The property section holds the county, the legal description from the vesting deed, the street address, the source of title, and the parcel identification number. The form is not set up for coagents, for a trustee or entity as principal, or for general authority over other property; a married principal's spouse holds a separate statutory interest under KRS 392.020 that this instrument does not reach, and a co-owner's interest passes only under that co-owner's own signature or that co-owner's own power of attorney.

The package includes the fillable limited power of attorney form, a completed example filled in for a Fayette County sale, and a guide that explains each section, signing and notarization, recording under KRS 382.370, and what the instrument does not do. This description and the guide describe the form and the governing Kentucky statutes in general terms; they are not legal advice.