## Facts

- Dollie Scott executed a durable power of attorney naming her daughter, Rita D. Lamb, as attorney-in-fact.
- Nearly a year later, Dollie executed a will leaving all property, including an Etowah County farm, equally to her two daughters (Lamb and Judy C. Heliste) and her stepson (Timothy D. Scott).
- About a month after the will, Dollie suffered a stroke and became incapacitated.
- About a month later, Lamb, acting under the power of attorney, executed a deed conveying the farm to herself and Heliste as joint tenants with right of survivorship.
- The power of attorney did not expressly authorize Lamb to transfer Dollie’s real property to herself or to make self-benefiting transfers.
- After Dollie’s death, Scott challenged the deed because it removed his equal share contemplated by the will.

## Issues

1. Whether an attorney-in-fact may validly convey the principal’s real property to herself when the power of attorney does not expressly authorize self-dealing.
2. Whether Ala. Code § 26-1-2(b) (durable power of attorney statute) alters Alabama’s common-law rule that powers of attorney are strictly construed and do not permit self-benefiting transfers without specific authorization.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed summary judgment for Scott.
- The Court held Lamb lacked authority under the power of attorney to convey Dollie’s land to herself because the instrument did not clearly and specifically grant that power.
- The Court held Ala. Code § 26-1-2(b) does not expand an attorney-in-fact’s authority; it only preserves the effect of authorized acts during the principal’s incapacity.
- The deed was declared void, and the farm was to be treated as if the transfer had not occurred for purposes of the parties’ rights.

## Legal Principles

- Powers of attorney are strictly construed, limiting the agent to powers expressly granted and those necessarily incidental to executing the expressed powers.
- An attorney-in-fact may not transfer the principal’s property to herself without a clear, specific grant of authority in the power of attorney.
- Ala. Code § 26-1-2(b) makes authorized acts under a durable power effective during the principal’s incapacity, but it does not change the method for determining what authority the instrument confers.
- Self-benefiting transfers by an attorney-in-fact are outside the agent’s authority unless explicitly permitted in the instrument.

## Conclusion

The court invalidated an attorney-in-fact’s deed transferring the incapacitated principal’s farm to herself and her sister because the power of attorney lacked express self-dealing authority, and the durable power of attorney statute did not enlarge the agent’s substantive powers.


Lamb v. Scott, 643 So. 2d 972 (Ala. 1994)