My mother is dying and I in the hospital. My sister is Power Of Attorney. Can my sister leagally withdrawl all of my mothers pension monies without my mothers consent?
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My mother is dying and I in the hospital. My sister is Power Of Attorney. Can my sister leagally withdrawl all of my mothers pension monies without my mothers consent?
As a POA, ( unless it is a restricted form for just a specific action) a person can sign and do any legal actions for another person.
If she is POA, she can sign checks, sign anything for the other person)
Now if your mother does not want this done, she can withdraw the POA, issue another one to limit what can be done and so on.
This is why we have to be careful who we allow for his, since it is very possible a person will steal or take all of a persons money.
Essentially if the power of attorney did not specify for what use (say to sell a piece of real estate in a certain time frame) and is just a blanket power of attorney, your sister can do whatever she wishes with any of your mother's property be it checking, savings, real estate, cars, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetpea_athome
The blanket answer is yes; the explanation is:
In NYS - and perhaps every other State - there are various types of P/A with various responsibilities. Your sister could, for example (from the NYS website):
"Buy or sell your mother's real estate
Manage your mother's property
Conduct your mother's banking transactions
Invest, or not invest, your mother's money
Make legal claims and conduct litigation
Attend to tax and retirement matters
Make gifts on your mother's behalf"
Your sister (again, in NYS) cannot make medical decision for your mother.
Your sister is not supposed to be running her life on your mother's money; however, I have seen cases where the person with the P/A claimed that she had the person's authorization to give herself (the person with the P/A) gifts of money.
If your mother is able to understand and sign she could revoke the P/A - if she is willing to do so. Unfortunately many times these problems don't arise until the person is terminally ill and then there's little that can be done due to medication or general health.
If your mother does revoke then someone else will have to be appointed by the Court to manage her affairs OR she could designate someone else.
In Indiana, unless as said there are specific restrictions, it covers everything including medical if the person is not of a state of mind to be ale to make those decisions themselves. My grandmother was my great grandmothers POA for many years and she was responsible for making sure my great grandma got to all her Dr. appointments and the treatments she needed. The money came out of my great grandmas accounts. Not saying your sister is in that position but she may be using the money for your mothers care.
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Originally Posted by stinawords
NYS has talked about allowing the P/A to also cover medical decisions but so far it does not. A common misconception (that it does) and it causes all kinds of problems.
And, yes - without knowing what is being done with the money it's hard to say what's going on here.
My sister has already withdrawn all of my mother's pension monies from the bank. It is not being used to cover my mother's medical bills as everything is covered under our government health care. If my sister is stealing the monies for herself, do I have any legal rights to any monies after the funeral epenses and so forth? Can I charge her and take her to court. Do I have any legal grounds to stand on about inheriting what's left over?Quote:
Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck
Your mother now could challenge the use of the money, and if it goes to probate ( if mother dies soon *** sorry) then the person over the probate could ask for her to account for where the money went, but since she had legal authority to withdraw the money the question is NOW where is it going.
You would really have to see exactly how the POA is worded. As far as inheritance goes it is what ever the will says. If there is no will then generally the remaining assets will be divided equally betweer her heirs. It is not likely that you could charge her with anything if you get a lawyer then I've known cases that the POA is changed because what the current POA was doing was not in the best interest of the person needing assistance. That is a hard fight to win though.
I'm not exactly sure what my sister is doing with the monies. But, if she is stealing it for herself, do I have any grounds to take her to court? And have any chances of winning and inheriting my share of what's left over after the funeral costs?Quote:
Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck
Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetpea_athome
If you have PROOF the money is being mis-managed, yes, your mother can take her to Court which sounds - with your mother in such serous condition - that that is pretty much impossible. At this moment you have no legal standing. Your mother gave your sister the authority to handle her funds and, as I said, your sister can claim your mother told her (your sister) to pay herself, make herself gifts, whatever.
If your mother is capable and you can convince her have her sign a new Power of Authority over to someone else. However, if your mother is not capable of understanding or signing (as I said earlier) you are pretty much stuck with the situation.
Have you tried asking your sister what is going on and tell her what you have found out or think you have found out?
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