My mother gave me power of atty in 2005. Her atty never released this document to me until just recently. The document is dated in 2005 and notarized. After being named power of atty for my elderly mother in 2005. My brother who lives in another state came to visit in January of 2007 and coerced my mother to change her will in his favor. All of these legal transactions were performed by the same atty. Is this new will void since I had already been named power of atty and the power of atty was in affect. Should I have been notified of the change. I found out by accident that the will had been changed.

Your power of attorney only works if you mother can no longer make her own decisions. I guess her attorney would know if she made the changes with a sounds mind at the time.

I had a power of attorney for my mom and only used it after dementia had taken hold of her mind and she could no longer make her own decisions or sign her name.

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Originally Posted by 70cougar

my mother gave me power of atty in 2005. Her atty never released this document to me until just recently. The document is dated in 2005 and notarized. After being named power of atty for my elderly mother in 2005. My brother who lives in another state came to visit in january of 2007 and coerced my mother to change her will in his favor. All of these legal transactions were performed by the same atty. Is this new will void since I had already been named power of atty and the power of atty was in affect. Should I have been notified of the change. I found out by accident that the will had been changed.

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The Power of Attorney and Will are two different things serving two different purposes. The P/A does not give you control over your mother herself.

And, no, there is no law requiring you to be notified when your mother changed her Will.

A lot of people sign P/A to other people and the P/A is never acted upon because the person who signed never needs anyone to look over their financial affairs. It's simply a precaution.

So keep records and notes and when your Mother dies try to set the Will aside, claiming coercion.