Does a US power of attorney need to be notarised?

It depends on the state. Texas Estates Code § 751.0021(a)(4) requires acknowledgment before an officer authorised to take acknowledgments to deeds of conveyance and to administer oaths. New York General Obligations Law § 5-1501B(1)(b) requires an acknowledged signature and two witnesses. California Probate Code § 4121(c) accepts either acknowledgment before a notary public or signature by at least two qualifying witnesses.

Can an agent under a US power of attorney make gifts?

Only if the instrument says so. Texas Estates Code § 751.031(b) requires an express grant before an agent can make a gift, create or amend a trust, change rights of survivorship, change a beneficiary designation or delegate authority. California Probate Code § 4264 imposes the same express grant requirement for creating or modifying trusts and for making or revoking gifts. A general grant of all powers is not enough.

Does a US power of attorney form need warning language?

In California a printed durable power of attorney form sold or distributed for use by a person without the advice of legal counsel must contain prescribed warning statements in not less than 10-point boldface type or a reasonable equivalent, under Probate Code § 4128(a). New York instead prescribes minimum type size for the instrument itself: General Obligations Law § 5-1501B(1)(a) requires letters no smaller than twelve point.

Power of Attorney in the US

Execution formalities for a United States power of attorney differ enough between states that a single form cannot be used nationwide. New York requires the principal's acknowledged signature plus two witnesses, California accepts a notary acknowledgment or two witnesses, and Texas requires acknowledgment before an authorised officer plus specific durability wording. All three also require certain sensitive powers to be expressly granted rather than implied from a general grant of authority.

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Governing law

State statutes govern creation, formalities and the scope of an agent's authority. There is no federal power of attorney statute.

New York General Obligations Law § 5-1501B

What a power of attorney has to contain in the US

A New York power of attorney must be typed or printed in letters no smaller than twelve point, signed, initialed and dated by a principal with capacity, acknowledged as for a conveyance of real property, and witnessed by two persons not named in the instrument as agents or permissible gift recipients.
New York General Obligations Law § 5-1501B(1)(a) and (b)
The New York instrument must also be signed and dated by any agent acting on the principal's behalf, with the agent's signature duly acknowledged; a lapse of time between the two acknowledgments does not invalidate it.
New York General Obligations Law § 5-1501B(1)(c)
A California power of attorney is legally sufficient if it contains the date of execution, is signed by the principal or in the principal's name by another adult in their presence and at their direction, and is either acknowledged before a notary public or signed by at least two qualifying witnesses.
Cal. Prob. Code § 4121
A Texas durable power of attorney must designate an agent, be signed by an adult principal or in their conscious presence at their direction, contain wording that the power survives or takes effect on subsequent disability or incapacity, and be acknowledged before an officer authorised to take acknowledgments to deeds and administer oaths.
Tex. Est. Code § 751.0021(a)
In Texas an agent may create, amend, revoke or terminate an inter vivos trust, make a gift, create or change rights of survivorship, create or change a beneficiary designation, or delegate authority only if the instrument expressly grants that authority.
Tex. Est. Code § 751.031(b)

Form, notarisation and registration

A printed durable power of attorney form sold or distributed in California for use by someone without legal counsel must carry prescribed warning statements in not less than 10-point boldface type or a reasonable equivalent.
Cal. Prob. Code § 4128(a)

What catches drafters out

California applies the same express grant rule: an attorney-in-fact may create, modify, revoke or terminate a trust, fund a trust not created by the principal, or make or revoke a gift of the principal's property only if the power of attorney expressly grants that authority.
Cal. Prob. Code § 4264
In Texas, even where sensitive powers are granted, an agent who is not an ancestor, spouse or descendant may not use them to create an interest in the principal's property in the agent or someone the agent owes support to, unless the instrument provides otherwise.
Tex. Est. Code § 751.031(c)