General vs special power of attorney in the UAE
A general power of attorney grants broad authority across many matters. A special - or specific - power of attorney grants authority for one defined purpose. The mistake worth avoiding is assuming the first is simply a bigger version of the second: breadth is not acceptance, and where a UAE authority publishes the wording it expects, a document that does not contain it can be refused however wide it is.
What each one is
A general power of attorney names someone to act for you across a range of ordinary matters, without listing a single transaction. It is the instrument for "I am leaving the country for a while and someone needs to be able to deal with things".
A special power of attorney names the purpose. One property, one vehicle, one case, one company matter - and the powers granted for it. It is the instrument for "this specific thing has to happen and I cannot be there".
One authority publishes the distinction as a product list
The clearest published version of this distinction is not a definition. It is a menu. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department’s guidance manual for notarisation and attestation services lists twelve notarised powers of attorney, each with its own service code - and exactly one of them is general.
ADJD-0001, the General POA, authorises the attorney to act "in every permissible and known matter". Every other entry is named after the thing it is for:
- Real Estates POA - "managing or disposing of real estates"
- Commercial Licenses POA - "all legal and permissible matters in respect of the trade license(s)"
- Shares POA - "in every permissible and known matter related to shares"
- Vehicles POA - matters "related to any or all vehicles or their plate numbers"
- Litigation POA - "proceeding with any or all cases before courts"
- Businesses POA - "following-up his different businesses"
- Inheritance POA - "completing the of notice of succession procedures"
- Horses POA, Personal Status POA, Marriage POA and Divorce POA - each limited to its own subject
Source: Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, Guidance Manual — Notarisation & Attestation Services, July 2023
What one emirate publishes about duration and cost
Abu Dhabi publishes both, and the figures are worth seeing even if your transaction is elsewhere, because they show which parts of this are decided locally rather than federally.
On duration, ADJD states that "the maximum period for the POA validity is 3 calendar years after the date of notarisation", extended on the litigation POA to "5 years for lawyers". On cost, it publishes a formula rather than a price: "AED 100 for each year of the POA validity", plus "AED 500 if the signature authorisation is to be added". Notarisation itself is an appointment to "remotely meet the notary public", after which the document is "digitally attested", with a stated completion time of two working days.
Two cautions, and both matter more than the numbers. These are Abu Dhabi’s figures, published in a manual dated July 2023 - not today’s price list, and not a UAE-wide rule. Dubai’s notary route is governed separately and we do not have its published detail. And if your document is not in Arabic, ADJD attaches a condition to it: the document "should be translated by a certified translator whose valid license card will be attached to it".
Source: Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, Guidance Manual — Notarisation & Attestation Services, July 2023
Why breadth is not acceptance
This is the part that surprises people. Some UAE authorities do not simply ask for "a power of attorney" - they publish the scope the document has to contain.
RTA is the clearest published example. For a Dubai vehicle ownership change it states that the legal representative "must have a power of attorney stipulating the ‘sale and disposal of vehicles’", and that the representative must attend in person. A broad document that never contains that phrase can be turned away by a counter doing exactly what its own rules say.
So the question is not which document is stronger. It is whether the authority you are dealing with has named something, and whether your document says it.
Where authorities have published a requirement
Three published examples, each answering a different question:
- Dubai Land Department lists, among the documents its title transfer requires, the owner’s UAE ID "or an official power of attorney from the owner in case it is not present in person" - so for an absent owner the document is what stands in their place.
- RTA names the scope, as above: "sale and disposal of vehicles".
- For court representation, the UAE government portal states that a representative "must prove his appointment through an official power of attorney attested by a notary public", and that only licensed UAE national lawyers may appear before the courts.
Source: DLD title transfer; UAE Government Portal, appointment of attorneys
How to choose
Start from the transaction rather than from the document.
- If there is one specific thing to be done at one specific authority, a special power of attorney written for it is the direct route.
- If you want one person able to deal with ordinary matters over a period, a general power of attorney is the instrument for that - and you should still expect specific authorities to want their own.
- If you are not sure how wide to make it, narrower is the safer error. A power to sell is not a power to manage, and neither implies the other.
- If an authority has published what it wants, match it. That is a fact you can check rather than a judgement you have to make.
Questions
Is a general power of attorney accepted by every UAE authority?
Not necessarily, and at least one publishes otherwise. RTA states that a representative at a vehicle ownership change must hold a power of attorney stipulating the "sale and disposal of vehicles". Where an authority names what it wants, a broad document that does not say it may not be enough.
How long does a UAE power of attorney last?
That is set locally, not federally, and we can only tell you what an authority has published. Abu Dhabi publishes a cap: ADJD states that "the maximum period for the POA validity is 3 calendar years after the date of notarisation", extended to five years for lawyers on a litigation POA. We have not found an equivalent published figure for Dubai, so we do not state one - and the Abu Dhabi number must not be read as a UAE-wide rule.
Can I have both?
People often do - a general power of attorney for ordinary matters, and a specific one written for a transaction that an authority has its own requirements for. They are separate documents and each says what it says.
Does a power of attorney have to be notarised?
For court representation the UAE government portal states that a representative must prove appointment "through an official power of attorney attested by a notary public". Requirements elsewhere depend on the authority and the transaction, and we do not generalise beyond what is published.
What this page does not do
- This page explains the difference between two kinds of document and points at what UAE authorities have published. It is not advice about which one is legally sufficient for your situation.
- The Abu Dhabi material here comes from one emirate’s guidance manual, published in July 2023. The twelve service types, the three-year validity cap and the per-year fee are ADJD’s and are not federal rules. Dubai’s notary route is governed separately and its published detail is not available to us.
- The Deedbox is not a law firm and not a notary. Where the answer turns on legal effect rather than on a published requirement, it needs a lawyer.
- Authority requirements change. Every published requirement quoted here is dated in our source registry, and the authority’s own page is the version that counts.