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power of atty forms

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Shortly before my father passed away, he gave his roommate POA to cover some bills and whatnot. Before my father actually passed away, this roommate took the POA and changed himself to beneficiary of my fathers sizeable pension plan. There was only one witness on the form and the signature looked very questionable to my brother, mother and I. My questions are: Can a POA form give one the power to change ones self to beneficiary? Shouldn't my father, who was alert until the end, have been the one to change it? Is the form any good with only one witness? The state laws get confusing because my father and the roommate lived in Hawaii, the Board of Pensions is in Minnesota, I'm currently in Mississippi and my brother is in Texas. To confuse things more, my lawyer (my uncle) lives in Kansas. My brother and I are the orginal benificaries. My basic and most urgent question is, Under Minnesota law, can a person use a Power of Atty form to change himself to beneficary of a pension, esp. when the person is still alive?! Thank you
 


ALawyer

Senior Member
Only a lawyer licensed in the law governing the pension plan can give you a definitive opinion or answer to that question.

One problem is complicated by the fact that many pensions are also governed by Federal law. And it would take knowledge of the law of the state in which the plan is based, a very careful reading of the Plan, a careful reading of the power itself, and knowledge of the law of the state HA in which the Power was signed, and what HA's laws and judicial decisions state on ORAL limitaions regarding the Plan.

Further and most important, while the Plan may be entitled to rely on the Power, it may be, and likely is, impermissible self-dealing for the person named as attorney to name himself!

GET A HAWAII LAWYER NOW! AND ATTORNEYPAGES.COM LISTS THE BEST IN THE STATE OF HAWAII AND AN AUTHOR OF CONTENT ON FREEADVICE.COM.
I'd look at the
 

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