TODO_LEGAL_REVIEW. Legal statements on this page need review by a Florida attorney before launch.
Agent access by power of attorney
One named person who can act for you
A box nobody can open helps nobody. The plan needs one person you trust, named on paper that is signed correctly, before the sentence begins.
A vault box can be opened by the renter and by whoever the rental agreement allows. If the renter is serving a sentence, the box stays closed to everyone else until someone holds legal authority to act. One way to give that authority is a power of attorney, a document in which the principal (the person granting it) names an agent to act for them.
Florida sets the signing rules. A power of attorney must be signed by the principal and two subscribing witnesses and acknowledged before a notary. The agent must be a natural person 18 or older, or a qualified financial institution with trust powers. If the principal is physically unable to sign, the notary may sign the principal's name. Source: Florida Statutes § 709.2105 (2026) — checked 2026-10-19.
Signing inside a jail or prison raises practical questions about witnesses, notaries and visits, and each facility sets its own rules. Ask your attorney and the facility how it is done there. Better still, sign before the sentence starts. Read power of attorney for someone in custody and doing one without a lawyer.
Choose the agent for the years, not the week. The right person will still be reachable, still willing, and still on speaking terms with the rest of the family three or five years from now. Give them a copy of the signed inventory and a note of how the rest of the arrangement works, so they know what is in the box without opening it.
What matters
- In Florida, a power of attorney needs the principal, two subscribing witnesses and a notary.
- The agent must be a natural person 18 or older, or a qualified financial institution with trust powers.
- The powers written into the document decide what the agent may do. Ask your attorney which to include.
- Sign before the sentence starts where you can. Facilities set their own visit rules.
- Name a person who will still be reachable years from now.
How we handle it
- Whether we accept an agent acting for a renter: TODO_FACT: does Florida Intervault accept an agent acting under a durable power of attorney?
- What an agent must show us: TODO_FACT: original power of attorney, a recorded or certified copy, and the agent's own photo ID?
- Every visit is identified against government-issued photo ID and logged, whoever makes it.
- A joint rental, or a box in a trust's name, is another route, because the rental agreement sets who may enter.
Where we stop
We do not draft powers of attorney or advise on them, and we cannot tell you which powers to grant. That is your attorney's work.
Short answers
- Does the power of attorney stop working when I am released?
- That depends on how it is written and on Florida law. Ask your attorney before relying on it either way.
- Can my agent live outside Florida?
- Florida's rule is that the agent be a natural person 18 or older, or a qualified financial institution with trust powers. The practical question is whether they can reach Fort Lauderdale for an appointment.
- What if the person I named can no longer act?
- Ask your attorney about naming a successor agent in the same document. Changing the arrangement later, from inside a facility, is slower and harder to witness.
Questions people ask about this
More on how it works
Prepaid multi-year terms
A multi-year term takes 20% to 25% off each year's rent. The smallest box on three years is $636 a year.
If the rent lapses
Unpaid box rent starts a clock. Florida's bank rule, what our agreement says, and how to keep the clock from starting.
Release and pickup
Who may open the box when the sentence ends, what they must bring, and why that plan is made beforehand.
Mail-in and out of county
Documents mailed from anywhere in the US go into your box, and the key comes back. Valuables are a separate question.
Settle it before the date, not after.
A short call is usually enough to know whether a box is the right answer. If it is not, we will say so. Attorneys and family members are welcome to call on a client's behalf.