[Anonymous]

In 2002, we granted power of attorney to an abogado in Cadiz province in relation to a property transaction and it has remained effective ever since. For reasons which I won’t go into here, we need now to revoke this power of attorney and appoint a new lawyer to act on our behalf. Is it possible for us to do this without alerting the original abogado until after the fact? We’re sorry to have to act in this manner, but there has been a serious impropriety on his part and we can no longer have confidence; as things stand, he is empowered in a very broad sense to “manage our affairs” and I would like to secure our interests without forewarning him.

The POA was originally drafted by a Notary here in Ireland and subsequently translated (with the apostilla Convencion de la Haya). Is it sufficient for us to return to the Irish Notary and complete a Deed of Revocation, and then send this to our lawyer in Cadiz? Or do we need to do it through a Spanish Notary?

Many thanks for any advice you can offer!

[Inez]

I know you can revoke the poa yourself and dont need to inform the lawyer of it.

I had a client in the same situation but they were here in Spain, went to the notary and revoked it.

Not sure if you can do it from there but I see no reason why not. If they then try to do anything after revocation, it will not stand up or be legal.

Hope that helps!

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Inez, that’s good to know.

One consequence of this will be of course that the lawyer will no longer be authorised to operate our bank account, so I presume I should notify the bank to that effect?

[Inez]

It would be very wise to do so as the bank will just carry on unless they know otherwise.

I would personally close the account and open another moving all debits, just to be sure!!

[Author]

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