Power of Attorney in Dubai and the UAE

What a power of attorney is

A power of attorney is a signed instrument in which the principal gives an agent, sometimes called the attorney-in-fact, the authority to carry out named acts on the principal’s behalf. In Dubai the instrument is prepared, checked for identity and capacity, and then notarised, which is what makes it a legal document the receiving authority, whether that is a bank, Dubai Courts, the Dubai Land Department or a company registrar, will act on.

The person appearing before the notary must be who they say they are and must understand and accept what the document does. The notary’s role is to check identity documents, confirm the parties understand the transaction, and apply the seal that records the instrument officially. That step is separate from the drafting itself, which is where most disputes over a badly worded power of attorney start.

General power of attorney vs special power of attorney

UAE law splits agency into two statutory forms. Getting this distinction right matters more than most people realise: a general power of attorney written in broad, general language does far less than people usually expect.

If your document only says something like “to manage my affairs” without naming an act, the law reads that as an authority to manage, not to sell, mortgage, donate, settle a dispute, or represent you before a court. For any of those, you need a special power of attorney that names the act.

Types of power of attorney by use

Dubai Courts and the Ministry of Justice organise their power of attorney services around the transaction, not just the general or special split. The most common ones, each with its own page covering the specific documents and steps:

• Power of attorney for property in Dubai, for selling, leasing or managing a property when the owner cannot attend in person.
• Vehicle power of attorney, for selling, registering or transferring a car on someone’s behalf.
• Power of attorney for a court case, authorising a lawyer or representative to act in litigation.
• Company power of attorney, for signing on behalf of a business, handling licence renewals or representing shareholders.
• Power of attorney for share transfer, for buying or selling shares or company stakes.
• Power of attorney for inheritance, for heirs who need someone to act in an estate matter.
• Power of attorney from abroad, for principals who are outside the UAE and need the document issued through a UAE embassy or consulate.
• Cancelling a power of attorney, when you want to revoke an authority you already gave.

If you only need someone’s signature confirmed rather than a full power of attorney, that is a different, simpler service: witnessing a personal POA or another private document at witnessing of signature in Dubai.

How to get a power of attorney in Dubai

1. Decide the type and the exact acts. Write down precisely what the agent needs to do. Vague wording is the most common reason a power of attorney is later rejected as insufficient.
2. Draft the document. The instrument is prepared in Arabic; bilingual Arabic and English drafting is common in Dubai so both parties can read it, though the requirement is on the Arabic version, with a certified translation for a foreign-language document. We draft and translate the wording so it matches what your receiving authority expects.
3. Gather identity documents for both principal and agent (see the list below).
4. Notarise the document, either in person before a notary public, who checks identity and capacity before applying the seal, or through the notary’s electronic channels where the parties’ attendance can be virtual. The UAE Ministry of Justice also runs its own E-Notary System for electronic notarisation.
5. Collect the notarised copy and, if it will be used outside the UAE or with a specific authority, arrange any further attestation it needs.

Our in-house notary public notarises your document, and we prepare the documents in the right order and confirm what the receiving authority, such as a bank or the Dubai Land Department, will need before you sign.

Using a Dubai power of attorney abroad

A power of attorney notarised in Dubai for use in another country needs to be attested before that country’s authorities will accept it. The UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so there is no apostille route for a UAE document. The chain is:

1. Attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC).
2. Attestation by the destination country’s embassy or consulate in the UAE.
3. Any further legalisation that the destination country itself requires.

MOFAIC’s published attestation fee is AED 150 for personal documents and AED 2,000 for commercial documents, and the document must not be laminated. The reverse direction, a foreign document for use in Dubai, follows the same chain the other way: attestation in the issuing country, then by the UAE embassy or consulate there, then by MOFAIC once it reaches the UAE. If your principal is currently outside the UAE, see power of attorney from abroad for the full route, and power of attorney attestation in Dubai for the attestation service itself.

How long a power of attorney lasts

There is no general statutory validity period written into UAE law. A power of attorney ends when one of these happens: the task it covers is completed, the term stated in the document expires, the principal or agent dies or loses legal capacity, or the principal revokes it. Certain authorities apply their own acceptance rules for specific transaction types.

The principal can revoke or restrict an agent’s authority at any time, with limited exceptions where a third party’s right or the agent’s own interest is involved. If you want to end an authority you already gave, see cancel a power of attorney in Dubai.

Do you need a notary for a power of attorney

Dubai Courts, banks, the Dubai Land Department and most government departments will only accept a power of attorney once it has been notarised, since notarisation is what confirms the signatures and the parties’ identity and capacity. Drafting the wording correctly before you notarise is just as important: a document that says less than you intended still gets notarised exactly as written.