A Power of Attorney is a legal document or written authorisation that must be signed in front of a Notary by which you empower an experienced and trustworthy person to act on your behalf in legal matters or transactions.

When you hand PoA to someone, you are effectively saying by law “You may act on behalf of me for these powers” and for all transactions that are carried out with a PoA given by you, you will be responsible yourself. Therefore, it is advisable to give Power of Attorney only to professional registered and certified solicitors, attorneys or lawyers who are legally bound to act in your best interests.

Also, it is advised to give PoA for a limited period of time and for only the powers which the attorney would need.

Function of PoA

A Power of Attorney is a practical way of allowing your Turkish lawyer to undertake tasks and sign documents on your behalf so you don’t have the annoyance of having to attend in person to sign or authorise each part of the transaction.

Moreover, a Power of Attorney is convenient when you do not wish or it is impossible to travel to Turkey.

There are many situations in which issuing a power of attorney can be recommended in Turkey, among these:

• for various real estate transactions, such as buying, selling, inheriting or even renting properties,
• for opening a company in Turkey– this way the incorporation procedure is completed much faster,
• for taking actions before the administrative organs
• for making investments, for completing banking transactions or handling various tax matters.
• For taking actions before mediation, arbitration or litigation processes
• for representation in various legal cases in Turkish courts

We recommend to hire the service of a lawyer to deal with legal matters or transactions in Turkey because Turkish Law is different from your home country so legal matters can be a complex and difficult issue to understand. You need a lawyer whose communications can be fluid and clear.

Drafting PoA

We offer full range of Power of Attorney (PoA) services including PoA drafting, PoA translation, PoA notarising, PoA apostillation services.

In a first legal consultation one of attorney will answer all your questions and we will discuss all your requirements. Our attorneys will give you legal assistance in order to draft a Power of Attorney according with the faculties your needs due to your circumstances (We will ask who you need to give Power of Attorney to and what you would like them to be able to do on your behalf).

After clarification of your specific needs, a draft PoA document is prepared by expert lawyers in Turkish jurisdiction who give careful consideration to your requirements and tailor your PoA to your specific needs. Using latest technologies, we have created simple ways to order your draft Power of Attorney prepared by expert lawyers online, from the comfort of your home or office.

Our services enables you;

• Ordering our services online from the comfort of your home or work,
• Providing an opportunity to review your PoA and suggest changes during the process of your PoA preparation,
• We act as a ‘one-stop shop’ for all your POA needs as our services range from PoA drafting, representation to legalization of your PoA accross Turkey.

Your Requirements

While drafting your Power of Attorney, our experts take into consideration every detail to ensure that the Power of Attorney is tailored to your requirements and that it is not just a generic template.

Having served a large number of clients based in Turkey and worldwide, we are currently able to offer drafting services of following types of documents:

• Power of Attorney for Personal Matters,
• Power of Attorney for Vehicle Transactions,
• Power of Attorney for Business Transactions,
• Power of Attorney for Real Estate Transactions,
• Revocation of Existing Power of Attorney,
• Power of Attorney for representing interest of you or your company before Turkish authorities or Turkish mediators, arbitrations or courts

We offer professional PoA representation services and can act on your behalf in a variety of situations including property sale or purchase, property gift transfer, company setup and many more. These services will be of particular interest and benefit to you, if:

• You are looking for an assistance of professionals to handle your matters
• You are looking to save travelling expenses and time required to seal a deal
• You do not have any friend/relative/representative in Turkey who would have acted as your agent
• You are not able to attend formalities personally to complete a transaction

With our help, you can rest assured that professionals are in charge of your matters while ensuring your interests are prioritized.

Our attorneys draft the Power of Attorney in double column, English and Turkish, so that you know exactly what powers you are signing over to our lawyer/s.

Issuing a PoA in Turkey

In case you are in Turkey or able to travel to Turkey, you can grant a POA before a Turkish Notary Public. Issuing a Power of Attorney takes around two hours and is witnessed at any notary office within Turkey. All documents of notary office transactions are in Turkish language and it is an obligation to have a certified interpreter to translate the information on the papers before the signatures. Foreigners who don’t speak Turkish will need to use a sworn translator, registered with the notary office. Turkish notaries have sworn interpreters who will be ready at the notary offices within 15 minutes when they are called.

To grant a POA in Turkey it is usually the fastest and cheapest option. Our attorneys will prepare the draft POA with the Notary and a member of the team will accompany you to the Notary after making an appointment.

Issuing a PoA out of Turkey by Consulate of Turkey

In case you are not in Turkey or cannot come to Turkey, It is also possible to grant the Power of Attorney at the Turkish Embassy or Consulates in the country you are present. Each Turkish Embassy and Consulate act also as a notary abroad with an appointment. Please ask for obtaining an appointment at the relevant offices. After you make an appointment, you can go to the Turkish Consulate or Embassy in your country and issue a POA. Then you post it to your attorney in Turkey.

Power of Attorney, prepared as described above and notarised by a Turkish notary, can be used in Turkey without recourse to any other verification of validation.

Issuing a PoA out of Turkey by Local Notary

Turkey is a part of “The Hague Apostille Convention” (Convention of 5 October 1961). If your country is also in this convention, you may use any local notary for giving a PoA.

In such a case, we will provide the draft PoA in Word.docx format for ease of signing and dating. We may identify a local notary and arranging an appointment for the signature of the document, if it is necessary for you.

After issuing this PoA at notary in your country, you need to apostille at the competent authorities like district governorate, municipality, etc. The critical point is some PoA’s are valid only with photos in Turkey. Please ask your local notary to add your picture to this PoA as demanded. The documents issued in any orher language then Turkish need to be translated into Turkish in order to be used in Turkey.

Notarization Eliminates Any Doubt

You do not need the attorney to be present when issuing a POA. You might need the proxy’s ID details, your passport and in some cases (family and real estate issues) your photo.

Notarization eliminates any doubt regarding the validity of the principal’s signature. Notarial certification by a Turkish notary is proof that a document has been duly executed or duly signed in accordance with Turkish law. Notaries in most cases will require the grantor of the Power of Attorney to sign in their presence to allow them to identify the signatory and witness the signature. If the POA is drawn on behalf of a legal entity such as a company, the notary may also ask to see evidence of the existence of the company and that the person executing the POA is authorised to sign on behalf of such legal entity.

The original PoA should be sent to the attorney

The cost of giving a POA depends on what is written on the POA papers. Notary offices have certain prices for word character numbers, the price is calculated after the POA is written.

The Attorney’s Obligations

It is mandatory for the lawyer to strictly follow the client/donor’s instructions and it is forbidden to act beyond the powers given in the Power of Attorney. The attorney must render accounts to the donor to pay him any amount given to the lawyer by virtue of the power of attorney. Regarding responsibility, the attorney would be responsible for any damage suffered to the donor as a result of the attorney’s negligence.

Terminating a Power of Attorney

Powers of attorney can be issued for a limited or unlimited period of time. Those created for a limited period of time will end automatically upon the expiration of the date, however, it is also possible to cancel it earlier, if the grantor wants to or if the task it was issued for was resolved at an earlier date.

Unlimited powers of attorney can be revoked anytime the grantor wishes. The cancellation of the power of attorney is very simple and may occur at any public notary office. You will need the power of attorney or you must know the date it was created at in order to cancel it.

The Power of Attorney will be also revoked by:

• The death or loss of the mental capacity of the donor.
• The death or loss of the mental capacity of the attorney.