Abuse of Power of Attorney

[KarenF]

What is the name of your state? Pa

My sister has power of attorney for my father who is in an assisted living home. Since she has had the POA we have not asked her for any accounting of his assets. Her son has been living in my father's house for a few years. We have no idea how much he has paid to live there or what bills he has paid. My father may have been paying for the utilities for all we know. We recently found out that she has bought the house for $160,000 (house was recently appraised for $286,000).

Do we have any recourse on the sale of the home? Can we revoke the power of attorney as her siblings? How do we demand a full accounting of her financial transactions with his money?

 

[Dandy Don]

Time to consult a lawyer now to find out if your state has abuse of POA laws on the books. She is supposed to be spending for and accounting for the monies on his personal care, but perhaps her actions are within a limited scope. You also need to ask her if he has a last will and testament. You can get the POA revoked if her transactions are questionable.

 

[BlondiePB]

Can we revoke the power of attorney as her siblings?

No. Only dad can revoke the POA if he is of sound mind. However, guardianship automatically invalidates a POA.

 

[lwpat]

Sounds like the rest of the siblings need to petition for guardianship. Then you can demand an accounting but I doubt you will ever see one. Act now or realize that you will get nothing from the estate and there is probably not going to be enough left to care for Dad. Not only will the house be gone but also the 160,000, if it is not gone already.

 

[GaAtty]

The first thing is to determine is if he is mentally competent. It is always a red flag when someone that age and in a nursing facility sells their house through the POA. Is there someway that you can see him or ask the nursing facility people about his competence? Or the doctor? If he is not competent, then the sale of real estate can be challenged. After all, he has to be competent for any contract to sell property can be entered into. It doesn't matter if he granted POA, if the transfer was done when he was not competent and he could not direct the POA to do it, then it is invalid. In particular, the POA is not allowed to transfer his assets for their benefit. The POA is a fiduciary, in every state. That means they are strictly held by the courts to a high standard of duty to act for the benefit of the person for whom they are POA. That means they cannot act for their interest and at the same time be representing the interests of the party for whom they are POA. It sounds like this is what she did. You cannot revoke the POA, but you can ask the court to do so if you prove that she is misusing it for fraudulent purposes, which is what it appears she is doing (as well as breach of fiduciary duty). A petition for guardianship might be a good thing, or else you can do a civil lawsuit against her claiming fraud, and certainly include a claim against the house (if an attorney in your state says it is appropriate, you can put a lis pendens on the house to prevent its sale or mortgage while this is being worked out.)You possibly can get the attorney to represent his interests(in other words, you can hire an attorney for his benefit), if you truly think he is incompetent (again, make sure this can be done in your state).