Italian Consulates can issue powers of attorney only to Italian citizens.
Powers of attorney issued by Italian Consulates are written in Italian only and are valid in Italy without any further certification.
To obtain a power of attorney, you must request an appointment by email at notarile.sanfrancisco@esteri.it. Please attach the completed form to the email requesting the appointment (see the forms at the bottom of this page).
It is also possible to sign a power of attorney in the form of a private deed at the Honorary Consulates within the jurisdiction of this Consulate General. For more information, please contact this Notary Office by sending an email to the address above.
Please note that the Notary Offices of the Italian Consulates cannot provide legal advice or draft specific powers of attorney for personal needs: the Italian Consulates only issue the powers of attorney listed at the bottom of this page.
Those who wish to grant power of attorney (principal) must send an email to notarile.sanfrancisco@esteri.it, attaching a draft prepared by an Italian notary or lawyer, complete with all the necessary information, in Word format, and a copy of a valid Italian passport.
PLEASE NOTE: the Consulate General assumes no responsibility for the accuracy and legal validity of documents that are not prepared by this Notary Office.
General Information
A power of attorney is a document that authorizes another person to act on one’s behalf and representation and to perform the acts necessary to achieve a specific purpose (e.g., selling, purchasing, administering, making donations, accepting donations, establishing or dissolving companies, requesting marriage publications, etc.).
Powers of attorney are divided into two categories:
General powers of attorney (“Procure generali”): with these documents, the interested party entrusts the representative with the management of all their affairs, both present and future. A general power of attorney is issued for an indefinite period and confers extensive powers, effectively making the agent an alter ego of the principal. Such a power of attorney should only be granted to persons who are trusted completely.
Special powers of attorney (“Procure speciali”): with these acts, the interested party entrusts the representative with the management of part of their affairs and the performance of various activities aimed at a specific purpose (e.g., sale of real estate). The special power of attorney ceases to be effective when the particular task for which it was issued is completed.
For some powers of attorney, such as deeds of donation, the law requires that they be in the form of a public deed (these powers of attorney are only issued at the Consulate General in San Francisco).
If the person performing the act is acting on behalf of a company, that person must prove the legal existence of the company and the position he or she holds.
It should be noted that all financial transactions carried out by married couples must be signed by both spouses. The normal regime provided for by law is that of community property between spouses. If Italian citizens are married in Italy and have opted for the regime of separate property, the signature of both spouses is not required. The State of California does not provide for this possibility. It should be noted that the following are excluded from the community property regime because they are considered personal property:
• property that the spouse owned or had a right to enjoy before the marriage,
• property acquired after the marriage as a result of a gift or inheritance, when the deed of gift or will does not specify that it is attributed to the community,
• property for the strictly personal use of each spouse and their accessories
• property used for the exercise of the spouse’s profession,
• property obtained as compensation for damage, as well as pensions relating to total or partial loss of working capacity,
• property acquired with the proceeds from the transfer of the above-mentioned property or through its exchange.
The types of powers of attorney issued by this Consulate (click to download the application form):
• General power of attorney
• Special power of attorney for the purchase of real estate
• Special power of attorney for the sale of real estate
• Special power of attorney for inheritance
• Special power of attorney for the acceptance of donations and special power of attorney for donations
• Special power of attorney for the sale and purchase of motor vehicles
• Special power of attorney for legal representation
If you are NOT an Italian citizen, and you need a Power of Attorney to use in Italy, follow this procedure:
- Have a PoA (Power Of Attorney) drafted by an Italian Public Notary. Please keep in mind the PoA can be done only as “Scrittura Privata”.
- Have the PoA translated in English (see the link below for professional translators). https://conssanfrancisco.esteri.it/Consolato_SanFrancisco/en/i_servizi/traduttori/interpreti-e-traduttori.html
- Have the English version of the PoA notarized by a U.S. public notary
- Have the English version of the PoA apostille’d by the State (California if the doc is made here) https://conssanfrancisco.esteri.it/consolato_sanfrancisco/resource/doc/2017/09/apostille_info_and_sos_website_-_inglese.pdf
- Have the Italian translation certified by this Consulate (we only certify that the translation is complete and correct, so we will need to receive both the English version and the Italian version, plus a USPS Priority pre-paid return envelope to mail the documents back to you).
The Apostille does NOT require translation.
Please see the fee for the certification service art. 72A (amount in $ is per each original page front and back in English, it does not matter how many pages takes the translation): https://conssanfrancisco.esteri.it/consolato_sanfrancisco/en/i_servizi/tariffe/
We accept money orders and cashier’s checks only.
When this procedure is completed the PoA will be valid in Italy (both Italian and English version with apostille must be stapled together and sent to Italy by FedEx or UPS).