my father recently had a tramatic surgery in which the first week he was under a lot of meds and could not do his own bills.The poa( my sister) took over for a few weeks and then she got sick and gave all the bills to my other sister who was on my dads paperwork as the secondary poa. she did not go to the attorney or anything and just started writing out his bills,even tho he can do his own and will not give his checkbook back to him even tho he has asked for it.He has not been deemed incompetent and is able to do them himself!!! I fear she is using up his $$ for her own expenses and that is why she will not give it up! She is also forging his name on the checks by only writing his name. HELP!
1. You don't need an attorney to exercise POA. You just need a copy of the POA and a doctor's letter saying that the person is incompetent (or whatever conditions are written into the POA). For the secondary POA, they also need a letter saying that the primary can't do it. A letter from the primary should be sufficient.
2. It's hard to take back a POA once it is invoked. You'd have to go to each place she has used it and tell them it is re.voked. I guess the primary could do that. You also need to get the POA docs back from her, lest she use them later.
3. If she is signing your dad's name on checks, she is NOT exercising a POA. As POA, you sign "Your Name, attorney in fact for Dad's Name". And the bank will require a copy of the POA docs. What she is doing could be considered stealing, especially if she is paying her own bills. You can call the Elder Services for your state and report it. If the elder is incapacitate, it's not necessary for them to report it themselves. Maybe you can just get the checkbook away from her and monitor his finances to make sure she hasn't used her POA elsewhere.
For expressor1:
I'm the representative payee for my husband's SSD. It wasn't that hard to get although I did have to visit the SS office a couple of times and it took many months. I needed a note from his doctor saying that he is not capable of managing his own affairs, but that was easy to get. You need that letter to exercise a conditional POA anyway. The letters they send you are fairly incomprehensible, but I called the office each time and got advice. The people were nice, even if the bureaucracy was not.
Two problems with being a representative payee are:
1. You're supposed to put the money in a separate account from your family money, which might require shuffling money around each month to pay bills.
2. You have to fill out a form each year to show how you spent the money on his behalf. So much for food, for shelter, for medical, for savings, etc. It's annoying to have to keep those kinds of records. I've only been doing this for two and a half years, so I've only sent in one such report. I don't know how fussy they are about it. I didn't have to prove any of it, just give them numbers. They don't ask for account numbers or anything. I didn't have any savings to report because his expenses were more than the SSD and that didn't seem to be a problem.
One thing that scared me was that I didn't have to prove that I was authorized to do this. I just did it. Maybe being a spouse helped. I don't know what their process is when the RP isn't the spouse, as in your situation.
They mailed a letter to "his" address to tell him I was planning to take control and later that I had done it, but if you control the mail to the elder, they'd never see it. Seems like SS ought to have more controls in place, although I can see that it would be a real hardship for most people taking care of their relatives to prove something like that.
I'm assuming your father has told you that second sister will not return the checkbook? Why do you think she's paying her own bills with your dad's money? Has either the primary POA sister or yourself ask her to return the checkbook?
How do you know she's signing your father's name? She may not understand that she's supposed to sign her own name as his attorney-in-fact.
You have given some really slim information here. Do all three of you visit with and have open dialogue with your father? Why ELSE do you think your sister is doing this? Why does first POA sister I think 2nd POA sister is doing it? BTW, just because first POA sister gave materials to second POA sister while 1st was ill, that doesn't change the order on the POA document. 1st sister still has primary say so. Are YOU on the POA document as a third agent for your dad?
You say your father has not been deemed incompetent but do YOU suspect some type of impairment?
IF your father is of sound mind, he can change his POA at any time and he can also change the way his bank account function. You could take him to the bank to do this but the least confusing way as well as the most appropriate way would be for the first POA sister to also go so that there's no appearance of wrongdoing, manipulation or undue influence on your father. Is 1st POA sister well enough for a trip to the bank?
Please give more information in order to receive better ideas and suggestions.
As queried before, IF the father is competent, HE is still in charge of his own choices. If not, and the POA is of the durable type, then it is the number one sister who has the right to make decisions. This matter can most probably be handled by the dad or the first Agent POA number 1 sister.
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