My Dad just passed and brother had POA and I believe he squandered Dad's money. How do I get an audit?

You can request the bank account statements and other verifying documents from the POA. How to enforce your request depends on your state's laws and how much you want to spend if court proceedings are necessary.

Did the Power of Attorney document include a clause that required the Attorney-in-Fact (Agent) to provide regular accountings to your father and to other family members? This is important to remember for the future, as you review your own Power of Attorney document.

Also, problems caused by Agent's who don't act in the interests of their principal are caused by money they don't spend on services that are needed to provide proper care and companionship. You can check your own motives by keeping the focus on the needs of the person who needs protection and care.

Think again. Is this really how you want to handle the grieving period over your dad'd death, and honor his memory -- squabbling with your brother over money that is already gone? Deciding to move on is also an action you DO.

I have a friend who was POA for her mother who died of Alzheimer's. She spent her mother's money on her mother's care and even put some of her own money into her mother's care. At the time of her mother's death, there was $200,000 left over which she divided evenly between herself and her younger sister as specified in her mother's will. The younger sister decided to force my friend to account for every single cent ever spent on their mother and accused her of stealing. The end result, after the attorney fees, etc., was that the modest inheritance was wiped out and my friend wound up owing an additional $15,000 to the attorney. The court found that no money had been squandered and that my friend was honest and could account for every cent spent. The younger sister also lost most of her $100,000 in this foolish pursuit. The ONLY winner was the attorneys who basically wound up with both of these women's inheritance. Today, the two sisters are no longer speaking.

Think long and hard as to if this really is worth pursuing. If the two sisters above had not gotten into this legal battle, the older sister could have used her $100,000 to put her daughter through college. Instead, she is working at a hardware store in order to pay off her debt for being an honest POA, trying to pay what she can towards her daughter's college education and her daughter is also working part time to pay for her school.

Very good point. But what about the situation of taking care of YOURSELF Finally? Often people who lie,cheat and steal can hurt you sooo bad that "mvong on" is close to impossible before the air is cleared up, expalantions are given, apologies are shared and THEN one can "move on".
In oiur family there are so many secrets and deception that bros want to hide behind............ "let's put this aside until the grieving period has passed...." That is what Dad would want us all to do."

Well............ guess what??
The ones that want to "put it aside" and "move on" are always the ones that have lied, cheated and stole in this world. It is in THEIR best interest to have you "move on" asap so that they can then use the expressions.... "it's in the past" and "just get over it" and "why can't YOU leave well enough alone?"
Sorry, give a hug........but it is about time we bring to light those that need justice then and THEN forgive and "move on"....
The worst of offenses, like murder, I do NOT believe in the death penalty... but once a person is caught............ they are not sorry they did the bad thing to
Dad and you................. They are just sorry they GOT CAUGHT.

My sisters thought my father had hundreds of thousands of dollars. They were wrong. They thought they had big inheritances coming. LOL ! What little he had all went to his beloved wife. If you leave town for 30 years, don't come back with your hand out. I told her don't even let them in the house. Things will disappear.

Sounds like POA brother may have been the one dealing with dad. Were you involved in the caregiving? Visiting frequently, attending doctor visits, dispensing meds, cleaning up after CDIF infections, checking on NH, general day to day worry about dad's care? If so, and you feel wronged, think if the battle is worth the possible payout and associated consequence. If you were not involved in the day to day, thank your brother and accept any decisions he made, whether you believe they were good or not.

As an adult when you choose an action you choose the consequences. So, not being involved while dad was alive and not having a relationship where you could provide input to how money is spent, has a consequence. Accept it.

Depending on the amount of money involved, you can ask the POA holder to order copies of all the bank statements at your expense going back far enough so that you yourself can put together a summary ( without bothering him ) of where and why the money was spent. If he refuses to do this, you would either have to have a court compel him to do so or you would have to assert felony financial elderly abuse to the legal authorities who would then compel a production of financial statements for evaluation. If the findings are that money was used inappropriately, you can sue to recover your portion of the families estate that was squandered based upon instructions in the will for the distribution of assets. There is no pleasant way to do these things and the amounts in question must be worth the lost relationship with your brother. I am involved in a similar situation presently and am
requiring all bank statements also of the POA holder and credit card statements
and cell phone and regular phone bills etc.

dogabone, what in the WORLD? Aside from your grammar being barely readable, your thinking on this as well as the legality of what you are saying is off base. First, Medicaid is NOT for people who have the means to take care of themselves. It is for those who are LEGALLY unable to pay, not those whose plan it is, or irresponsible POA's plan, to squirrel away or squander money. Do you not understand how overburdened the social security system is? Money is going to run out. Furthermore, what you express indicates a mentality of having or taking no personal pride in planning for your future or old age, just to 'get it while you can'. Secondly, if a POA helps themselves it can result in an elderly person being put into a position of having gifted money to someone which would mean there would be withheld funds at a time when that person need them most. It is a fortunate thing in that case that the person who has trusted and been duped has passed away, but if there is an illegal action taken a POA can be held personally liable. In the case of the individual asking about this question regarding something that occurred in his or her family, what I hear is anger/pain at having been cheated and a question about what can be done about it. Doesn't sound as if Medicaid came into the picture but if it had, rest assured someone could have gone to prison or had to pay the money back. If, dogabone, you are considering this tactic you should rethink it for sure! It is immoral, illegal and just plain gross and certainly bad advice for you to give to anyone. In the realm of REALITY, if a POA is granted by a competent yet codependent person, once the money is gone there isn't much another person can do. Anybody can practically try to sue anybody, or pay to investigate anything, but as I said in my very first response to this question, you cannot bleed an anemic turnip.

I am going through the same things this month with my older brother. He is trustee of the family money and some things just do not add up. The only solution is to get an Attorney. Get one ASAP! If you look into it now you won't have any regrets... if you let it go..............there is chance you will be looking back at these days with regret........
Remember....... we don't usually regret things we do DO, we usually regret things we decide NOT to take any action on.

And what will you plan to do if you are right? or wrong?? THINK!