Penalty attached to misusing POA?

[nmandy]

What is the name of your state? NY/IL

My uncle died a month and a half ago. During his lifetime he (unwisely, in my opinion) gave a general POA to a distant cousin, who proceeded to take over his entire estate, took my very sick uncle off to another state, and alienated him from the rest of the family. In attempting to get hold of my uncle's death certificate, I contacted the funeral home which dealt with his body. The manager was initially very helpful, but today told me that he couldn't help me because said distant cousin stormed into his office, waved the POA in his face, and forbade him from cooperatnig with me. Though I told the funeral director that POA's expire upon the death of the person giving them, he still refused to cooperate with me, saying that as this cousin paid the funeral bill (with my uncle's money, but go prove that), he was in this cousin's employ and couldn't go against his wishes.

The POA being used in this manner is clearly improper, especially as it involves a dead man. My question is, is such misuse a felony, misdemeanor or some other suable offense?

 

[Dandy Don]

What state was the decedent a regular resident of and what state was he later moved to?

What state was the POA obtained in? In most states what you have described is called abuse of power of attorney (normally also considered as embezzlement) and you would need to consult with a business law or probate attorney to find out if that state law has such a description on its books to see what the consequences are. You probably will be able to initiate a legal action against him. He would need to prove that he spent a majority of the money on his uncle's care, and we all know that that probably didn't happen.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[nmandy]

My uncle lived in New York all his life, and the POA was obtained there. He was moved to Illinois in the last few months, most of the time he spent either in hospital or a nursing home, and the cousin had them put his own IL address on the death certificate (another bone of many I have to pick with him).

Dare I hope - Could abuse of a POA invalidate any prior financial actions taken by this man?

 

[Dandy Don]

Yes and no--it may invalidate some or most of the transactions he has done, but you would still need to consult an attorney to find out if you would need to file a lawsuit against him or whether there is enough evidence for the police to bring charges against him.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])