Power of attorney in Dubai
Power of attorney, drafted and ratified without the running around
Our lawyers draft your power of attorney in Arabic and English, check every document and take it through ratification before a notary public in Dubai.
- Drafted in house
- Arabic and English
- All seven emirates
Where it gets used
Where a ratified power of attorney is presented
Once it is ratified before a notary public, a power of attorney is a UAE public document. These are the courts, departments and institutions our clients present one to, for property, vehicles, company matters, banking and court work.
Dubai Courts
Government of Dubai
Government of Abu Dhabi
Government of Sharjah
Dubai Economy
Economy and Tourism
Dubai Land Department
Dubai Police
Dubai Municipality
Dubai Health Authority
Dubai Customs
Dubai Airports
DEWA
Public Prosecution
DIFC
DMCC
Etisalat
du
Emirates NBD
ADCB
ADIB
DGHRDubai CourtsGovernment of DubaiGovernment of Abu DhabiGovernment of SharjahDubai EconomyEconomy and TourismDubai Land DepartmentDubai PoliceDubai MunicipalityDubai Health AuthorityDubai CustomsDubai AirportsDEWAPublic ProsecutionDIFCDMCCEtisalatduEmirates NBDADCBADIBDGHRThe short version
What a power of attorney does
A power of attorney lets you name someone you trust to act for you when you cannot be there. It can cover a single task, such as selling a car, or the general running of your affairs while you are abroad.
Once it is ratified before a notary public it can be presented to courts, banks and government departments. The wording is what decides whether it is accepted, which is why it is drafted rather than filled in.
Our services
Each one drafted for the authority that will receive it.
Vehicle POA
Sell, buy or register a car through someone else.
Property POA
Buy, sell or manage property, accepted by the DLD.
Company POA
For managers, partners and authorised signatories.
Court case POA
So a lawyer can represent you before Dubai Courts.
Child travel POA
For a minor travelling without both parents.
Banking POA
For accounts, cards and bank instructions.
Inheritance POA
For an heir who cannot attend in person.
Attestation
MOFAIC and embassy attestation, handled for you.
The two the law uses in practice
Everything else, vehicle, property, banking, is one of these two, worded for its purpose.
General agency
Broad authority over your affairs
Right when you are leaving the country for a long period and someone has to run things generally.
Special agency
One named transaction
One car, one apartment, one case. Accepted without argument and it limits what the agent can do. Right for most personal matters.
The point most people miss
Under Article 871 of the Civil Transactions Law, a general power of attorney written in general terms confers acts of management only. Selling, settling and transferring must each be named specifically, or the agent cannot do them. This is behind most rejected documents.
Who uses a power of attorney
If your situation is not listed it is still very likely covered. Ask us.
Residents travelling or moving
A car to sell, a tenancy to sign or a bank matter to close while you are away.
Family abroad
A relative overseas needs someone here to act, or you act for a senior family member.
Property owners
Buying, selling or managing a Dubai property through someone else.
Business owners
A manager, partner or authorised signatory needs written authority.
People with a court case
A lawyer needs a power of attorney to represent you before Dubai Courts.
Parents
A child travelling with one parent, a relative or a school group.
How it works
Four steps from the first call to a ratified document.
1
Tell us what you need
A short call or a message is enough to start.
2
We draft and check
In Arabic and English. You read it before signing.
3
Notary appointment
We book it and prepare the file for you.
4
You get the document
Ratified and ready to use.
Why us
Why clients choose us
Everything handled in house
Our own lawyers draft, translate and check your file.
Fees shown openly
Government fees are listed separately from our charge.
Worded for the right authority
A bank POA and a DLD POA are not the same document.
Problems caught early
You hear it from us, not from the notary on the day.
The two people ask for most
Between them these cover most of the powers of attorney we draft in a week.
Selling or registering a car
The RTA will not move a vehicle into another name on a verbal arrangement. A vehicle power of attorney names the car and names the act, so the transfer goes through without a second visit.
Buying, selling or managing property
The Dubai Land Department checks the wording closely and applies its own rules on how recently the document was issued. We draft it for the DLD, not for a generic template.
Where a power of attorney is ratified in Dubai
The right route depends on where you are, who will receive the document and how soon you need it. We pick it for you and book it.
Dubai Courts Notary Public
The main route in Dubai. It supports personal and virtual attendance.
Most Dubai matters, and anything going to the DLD or the RTA.
Private notary public
Natural persons entered on the Dubai Courts Roll under Dubai Law No. 4 of 2013, to exercise certain functions of the government notary public.
When you want an appointment outside court hours.
Ministry of Justice E-Notary
The federal system. The Ministry also runs a digital power of attorney service that produces a ratified document without a visit to a notary office. We check whether it covers your matter.
Matters outside Dubai’s own notary jurisdiction.
Abu Dhabi Judicial Department
Abu Dhabi has its own notary function for documents issued or used there.
Anything addressed to an Abu Dhabi authority.
What you need to bring
The core list. Your matter may need one or two more, and we tell you which before the appointment is booked.
From you
The principal, who must appear in person
- Valid passport, original on the day
- Emirates ID, if you are a resident
- Papers for the matter, such as a title deed
From your agent
Copies are usually enough
- Passport copy
- Emirates ID copy, if resident
- They do not usually need to attend
- Must be in the UAE when it is used
If it is a company
In addition to the above
- Trade licence
- Memorandum of association
- Board resolution naming the signatory
- Certified translation of anything not in Arabic
Anything not in Arabic needs certified legal translation before the notary will accept it. Send us photographs of what you have and we will tell you what is missing before you travel to the appointment.
Language
The Arabic requirement
The notary public and every UAE court and government department work in Arabic, so the power of attorney is drafted in Arabic. We give you the English version alongside it, so you read exactly what you are authorising before you sign. Most clients ask for the bilingual document.
Any supporting document in another language needs certified legal translation before the notary will accept it. That includes a foreign passport with no Arabic page, a foreign company document, or a foreign marriage certificate. We provide that as part of the file.
Online and remote notarisation
You do not always have to attend in person.
Virtual attendance at Dubai Courts
Dubai Courts supports virtual or personal attendance for ratification. Whether your case qualifies depends on the document and the parties, and we confirm that before booking.
The federal E-Notary System
The Ministry of Justice operates the E-Notary System, which supports remote notarisation for matters outside Dubai’s own notary jurisdiction.
Validity
How long a power of attorney lasts
There is no fixed validity period in UAE law. Article 897 of the Civil Transactions Law refers only to the term specified for the agency. If the document names an end date, it ends then. If it does not, it continues until it is cancelled, until the task is done, or until the principal or agent dies or loses capacity.
About the two year rule you may have read
That is not general law. Legal commentary reports it as a Dubai Land Department rule, set out in DLD Circular No. 29/R/2025, under which the DLD accepts a power of attorney for property transactions only within a set period of its issue. It applies to property dealings at the DLD and nowhere else.
Cancelling or revoking a power of attorney
You can cancel at any time. Article 898 of the Civil Transactions Law gives the principal the right to revoke the agency. Cancelling has two parts, and missing the second one is a common and expensive mistake.
Cancel before a notary public
Done the same way the original was ratified. For a property power of attorney the Dubai Land Department also records the cancellation, and that service is free of charge.
Notify the agent
Until the agent and any authority dealing with them knows, they can go on treating the agent’s acts as valid. We prepare the formal notice.
Making a power of attorney from outside the UAE
If you cannot come to Dubai, sign in your own country and have it recognised here. The route is consular legalisation and the order is fixed.
- Sign before a notary public in the country where you are.
- Have it authenticated by that country’s foreign ministry.
- Have it attested by the UAE embassy or consulate there.
- On arrival in the UAE, have it attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- Have it translated into Arabic by a certified legal translator, and the translation notarised.
An apostille on its own is not enough
The UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention. An apostille from your home country does not, by itself, make a document usable here. The consular chain above still applies, whatever your own country tells you.
Going the other way
Attestation for use abroad
If your power of attorney is going to be used outside the UAE, it needs the attestation chain in the other direction: ratified before the notary public here, then attested by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then by the UAE mission in the country where it will be used.
We handle that end to end, and we tell you the official attestation fee before we start. MOFAIC charges differ for personal and commercial documents.
What gets a power of attorney rejected
Every one of these is avoidable, and every one of them we check before your appointment.
- The agent’s powers are written too generally for the act
- Names spelt differently across the passport, the ID and the document
- An expired passport or Emirates ID
- A company signatory with no board resolution behind them
- Wording aimed at the wrong receiving authority
- A foreign document without the full attestation chain
Official fees
These are set by the authorities and paid to them. Our own charge is quoted before any work starts and shown to you separately.
| Item | Fee | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Notarisation of a power of attorney | AED 100 per party | Cabinet Res. 19 of 2024 |
| Private notary public | plus 30 percent | Article 2(2) |
| Notarisation of a translation | AED 50 per page | Cabinet Res. 19 of 2024 |
| Cancelling a property power of attorney | No fee | Dubai Land Department |
These are the federal figures, set by Cabinet Resolution No. 19 of 2024 under Federal Decree-Law 20 of 2022. That decree-law excludes, by its own Article 2, the local judicial authorities that run their own notary legislation, and Dubai Courts is one of them under Dubai Law No. 4 of 2013. Dubai Courts publishes its own fees, so we confirm the current amount with the office that will ratify your document before you pay anything.
We cover every emirate
Ratified in Dubai, or through the notary route for your emirate. Whatever the document has to do, and wherever it has to be used.
Seven emirates
- Dubai
- Abu Dhabi
- Sharjah
- Ajman
- Fujairah
- Ras Al Khaimah
- Umm Al Quwain
Documents we draft
- Vehicle
- Property
- Tenancy
- Company
- Share transfer
- Banking
- Court case
- Litigation
- Child travel
- Inheritance
- Marriage
- Divorce
- Visa and residency
- General
- Special
Routes we handle
- Dubai Courts Notary Public
- Private notary public
- Ministry of Justice E-Notary
- Abu Dhabi Judicial Department
- MOFAIC attestation
- Embassy attestation
- Certified legal translation
- Cancellation and notice
Frequently asked questions
The eight we are asked most often, answered properly.
What is the difference between a general and a special power of attorney?
A special power of attorney names one act, such as selling a specific car. A general one covers the running of your affairs, but under Article 871 of the Civil Transactions Law a general power of attorney written in general terms only covers acts of management. Selling or settling has to be named specifically.
Does a power of attorney have to be in Arabic?
Yes. The notary public and every UAE authority work in Arabic. We draft in Arabic and give you the English version alongside, so you read exactly what you are authorising before you sign.
How long is a power of attorney valid in the UAE?
There is no fixed period in UAE law. Article 897 refers only to the term written into the document. The two year figure quoted on many websites is a Dubai Land Department rule for property dealings, not general law.
Can I cancel a power of attorney?
Yes. Article 898 gives the principal the right to revoke it. The cancellation is done before a notary public, and the agent must be formally notified, because until they know their acts can still bind you.
Can I sign it from outside the UAE?
Yes, through consular legalisation: a notary in your country, that country’s foreign ministry, the UAE embassy there, then MOFAIC here, then certified Arabic translation. An apostille on its own is not enough, because the UAE is not a party to that convention.
Does my agent need to be there?
Usually not. The principal must appear before the notary public. The agent will need to be in the UAE at the point the power of attorney is actually used.
Can someone act for an elderly parent?
Yes. An elderly parent or relative can grant a power of attorney to a family member, provided they have the capacity to understand what they are signing when they appear before the notary public.
How soon can it be done?
Most personal powers of attorney are ratified within a few working days of the first call, provided the documents are in order. That is exactly why we check them before the appointment is booked.
No charge for this
Not sure which document you need?
Tell us what the agent has to be able to do and which authority will receive the document. We will tell you whether it is a general or a special power of attorney, what to bring and what the official fee will be. There is no charge for that conversation.
Start here
Ready to start your power of attorney?
Tell us what your agent needs to do. We will tell you which document you need, what it will take and what the official fees are.
- No charge for the first conversation
- Drafted in Arabic and English
- Appointment booked for you
Tell us what the document has to do
Say who will receive it and what you need it to allow, and you will get a straight answer on the wording, the government fees and what to bring. You can also send it through the contact form.
Call us
Speak to the person who will handle your file and get an answer on the same call.
Send photographs of your passport, your Emirates ID and anything the matter attaches to.
Best for a company matter, or anything that runs to several documents.
Visit the office
Jebel Ali area, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai. Come in, or have it handled remotely and only turn up to sign.
Opening hours. Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 18:00. Friday, 9:00 to 12:00. Saturday, 9:00 to 18:00. Sunday, closed.