What is a power of attorney?

How does a power of attorney work?

The power of attorney is a type of authorization where you give other people the power to do things on your behalf. Most POAs list specific areas or tasks for which they are valid, although blanket authorizations exist too.

POAs can only be given for a limited time. Most of them will either list a precise date of expiry, or they will expire upon completion of the tasks indicated. If a POA is given for an indefinite time or until revocation, it may remain valid for up to 5 years.

Authorities and other recipients will want to make sure that the person representing you before them has the power to act on your behalf. To do that, they will want to see proof that the POA is authentic. This proof is called attestation, and it can take various forms. Depending on the recipient, attestation can be provided by attorneys (hence the name), by two witnesses, by notaries and consulates, or by an Apostille. When you work with us, we will always help you determine which form of attestation your documents need.

When will you need to make a power of attorney?

Typically, authorities will require you to give a POA to any agents you hire to represent you and your interests. If you want to live, work, or do business in Hungary, you might be required to give a POA to agents like Helpers in the below scenarios:

• Company setup: companies can only be registered with the Court of Registry by attorneys, so you will need to give them a POA to register your Hungarian company.
• Accounting: your Hungarian accountant will need a POA to establish their right to access and manage your financial information.
• Mail forwarding: as part of our virtual office service, we can receive and sort your incoming business mail based on your authorization.
• Property purchase: deals must be registered with the Land Registry, and that can be handled only by attorneys.
• Family tree research: if you are applying for citizenship based on ancestry, our genealogist will need your authorization to request information pertaining to your family from local archives.

How to create a power of attorney?

Most authorities or providers have their own forms to fill in order to create a power of attorney relevant for dealing with them. This way you will not have to waste too much time on considering what kind of data to include, since you can simply fill out fields and select tasks or activities from a list they provide. At Helpers we also have our own templates which have been streamlined over the 20 years of our operation, and we ask for authorization only for tasks for which it is absolutely necessary.

In case you want to create a power of attorney on your own, you will need to include the information below. If you don’t speak Hungarian, you can make the POA bilingual, but then you should add that the Hungarian version is the binding one.

• It should have a title: “Meghatalmazás” (“Power of Attorney”, or “Authorization”)
• Name and core data of the person giving the authorization (permanent address, date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, ID card number)
• Name and core data of the person receiving the authorization (permanent address, date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, ID card number)
• Activities or tasks allowed to perform, or the fact that this is a blanket authorization)
• Conditions for expiry: whether the POA is given for a definite or indefinite period; maximum validity is 5 years.
• Signature of the person giving the authorization
• Signature of the person receiving the authorization (not always required, but it might be better to include to prevent disputes)

Please note that the power of attorney creates only power, not responsibility. If you authorize your neighbor to receive your mail, they will not become responsible for picking your mail up from the post office; that needs to be agreed upon separately. When you give a POA to a service provider, you will also make a service agreement with them in which they undertake to perform the activities for which you are giving the authorization in the POA.

Power of attorney with Helpers Hungary

When you create a power of attorney for any agent, make sure to consider what kinds of activities or tasks they will need power for when they act on your behalf, and list only relevant areas. Make sure to indicate the conditions of expiry and include all the relevant information of the persons involved. Consider the type of attestation the document will need and then take care of it.

If you are working with Helpers, we will ask for POAs for as few tasks as possible while performing the services we undertake in our agreement. Our aim is to take the burdens of Hungarian administration off your shoulders and create a worry-free experience while dealing with local bureaucracy. Should you have any questions about our processes, feel free to ask!

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