I am the full time caregiver and Healthcare Power of Attorney. My brothers are the POA's and can't wait to get their hands on the Trust account that they are POA for. I got a document in the mail today with their names on the Trust account. My mother is not incapacitated. Is this legal?
Have you seen the actual wording of the durable poa? Very often they are registered with the country register of deeds and can be seen at the register of deeds office or online for that particular county.
I wish you well. Let us know how this all turns out.
It would be good as thezookeeprer pointed out to see what the POA document says about activating the POA. Also, you need to find out if your state requires the document to be registered with the registry of deeds to be considered activated. My state, North Carolina, has such a requirement which my step-brother did not know about until he tried to use his dad's POA document. The banks wanted to see a registered copy of the POA which means it has a special stamp that is different for the notary.
If your mother has not been declared incompetent yet, then she can legally change that durable POA over to you if she want to.
Is she aware of your bothers' "eagerness" (greed) to get their hands on your mother's trust? Do they not understand that the trust still belongs to your mother and can only be used for her?
Are they doing her tax returns? If so, are they signing their names with POA after it? Have they gotten the code provided by the IRS for a POA to use when signing a tax return for someone that is written on the tax return each time one is filed?
Unfortunately, if your mother has been declared incompetent then she can't sign a new POA.
Sounds like it was a poor choice to give the brothers Durable POA?
Are your mother's monthly an/or quarterly financial statement still coming in the mail to your mother? At some point the brothers may use their POA to have those statements sent to them instead of to her by assigning their address as hers so that it is sent in her name, but to their house.
Does your mother and you have online access to her financial resources? That would be great to get before her minds gets too bad.
As an only child, sometimes I am glad to be an only child when I read stories like this. There is a lot of sibling warfare out there and it is mainly over the money either while the parent is being cared for or after they die.
Since you went with your mother to have the POAs prepared, then I see no reason why you can't go back to the same lawyer and ask him your question about their actions.
I hope that you can get all of this resolved soon. Keep us posted.
Elizabeth
Your brothers being out of state is a good reason to ask your mother for practical reasons would she make you the durable POA. You are doing the caring. It makes sense that since you are right there that you should be managing the money.
Good luck!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth