A Specific Power of Attorney is a very powerful legal document which allows a person (known as the Donor) to give another person (or persons) (known as the Attorney) the power to take decisions with regard to their financial, legal and/or personal affairs.

A Specific Power of Attorney is usually created for a set period of time in cases where the Donor is going abroad or is unable to act for some other reason and wishes someone else to have the authority to act on his or her behalf for a particular purpose.

An Specific Power of Attorney will usually end either at a specified time or upon the request of the Donor at any time using a Deed of Revocation and will automatically be revoked if the Donor loses mental capacity. There is no requirement for a Specific Power of Attorney to be registered.

Note that the Attorney’s powers under the Specific Power of Attorney are limited to the "specific" thing you want the Attorney to deal with (e.g. acting on your behalf in relation to a problem you are having with your council tax or simply ending a mobile phone contract). This is to be compared with a General Power of Attorney which gives the Attorney power to deal with all the Donor’s affairs as he sees fit.

This Specific Power of Attorney form has been created by UK lawyers for use in England and Wales.