Power of Attorney Abuse

A power of attorney document, as we have seen with Aunt Gertrude and her niece Milly, is a powerful document. Milly can do a world of good for her dear Aunt Gertrude, or she can misuse her power to enrich herself.

What if Aunt Gertrude decides that she wants to limit Milly’s ability to act on her behalf? Suppose Aunt Gertrude is concerned that she may be tempting Milly too much by giving Milly her checkbook. What can Aunt Gertrude do?

Aunt Gertrude can grant her niece a limited power of attorney.A limited power of attorney, as the name suggests, has some […]

When we hear stories of the abuse of power of attorney document, we’re often amazed at the gall and boldness that accompany the actions of the attorney in fact (the person who is appointed on the power of attorney document). One of the main reasons that Aunt Gertrude chose her niece Milly (our two fictitious characters for purposes of this blog) as her attorney in fact was that she trusts Milly to do the right thing.

An attorney in fact has a duty of loyalty to the person who appointed her (the principal). So Milly owes a duty of loyalty to […]

Here is my synopsis of what happened to another “Aunt Gertrude,” but this time, unfortunately, it is a sad but true example of what I have been writing. Today our paper reported that it was a great niece.. You may agree with me that there is nothing so “great” about this niece:

“A woman stole more than $300,000 from her elderly aunt. In April 2010 the York County
Area Agency on Aging received a complaint that an elderly woman, who resided at the
Brunswick of Longstown personal care home was being financially exploited.”

Let me just break in here and say “Bravo” for the […]