My sibling and I have always shared POA responsibility for mom, both financial and health care. Mom lived with me for almost two years, and now she has been with my sibling for almost one year. My sibling informed me she is creating a trust for mom’s estate (with attorney who is personal friend) and I’m to be eliminated as POA. It will be solely my sibling as POA for the trust. When I pushed back and said that I was very hurt and upset, she got extremely angry with me. Mom is really unable to make any decisions at this point and she has not asked for the trust to be created, it’s all my sibling. Mom will do anything she is asked to do and sign anything. To me, this is borderline financial elder abuse. Can you please offer advice to me? Thank You
You may need to hire your own attorney or certainly contact the attorney/'friend' who your sister/s are working with to re-write it.
It sounds to me that you DO NOT have the legal authority you believe you have.
While I appreciate you coming here for a response, I wonder why you didn't immediately call an attorney or the attorney your sister(s) are working with first to clarify what is going on and your rights as a POA (and how these legal responsibilities are split up among the family)
Do you realize this is a legal issue that you need to address? It sounds to me that you do not have the legal authority to make the decisions you presumed you had, otherwise your sister(s) could not do this without your consent. Gena.
I am not a legal expert, but I question how your sister can make a trust for your mother's estate naming your sister as POA, which would require your mother signing the trust. So, once again, if mother not capable of signing, I am not sure how your sister could do this.
Also, when you say you and your sister share POA responsibilities for your mother, does that mean you were both legally named POA for mother via a POA legal document or are you both just acting in such capacity?
Is that legal?
It all depends on whether your mother really isn’t able to decide for herself. (For example, it might be your opinion that your mother isn’t able to; but it might be the law’s opinion that she can). Only a court can decide that someone is mentally incompetent.
Often, the standard to allow an elderly person to sign documents is quite low:
…They just need to be able to know their name, address, birthdate, etc.
…They need to understand what they’re signing.
…(The fact that one has memory problems can be OK).
On the other hand, if your mother was wrongly pressured/influenced by your sister to sign, then that can be elder abuse.
Dad died last September and Mom and I got a lawyer to create documents to ensure her estate did not go into probate.
The Trust agreement ensures that I can make sure the terms of the Will are carried out in a timely fashion. I do not have access to funds etc. I will be able to ensure the assets are distributed according to the will.
If Mom was not cognitively impaired she has the right to change her POA. If she was impaired then that is very shady on sisters part and the lawyer