No. Absolutely not. Unless they maybe want to go to jail. This would be abuse of any legal POA. There are very rare instances enumerated online where this can be done is the original beneficiary DIED. AdamDB, came in to clarify something: There are certain instances, while serving as a POA, that a beneficiary of something may be changed. Let us say you are managing the finances of a person as POA. Let us say that a 5 year CD that the person had in his name with John Doe as POD (pay on death). Let us say that this person you are POA for is now living in Assisted Living and his Trust Account, out of which you pay for the ALF and all his other expenses is becoming depleted due to this rise in the cost of living. You CAN, as POA, direct that this CD, instead of rolling over or being reinvested, go into the Trust which pays bills. This would mean that the POD to John Doe no longer exists. Exactly this happened to me when my brother went into Assisted Living and I was his POA and his Trustee for his Trust per his request a year before. There then later was a sale of an asset of his that allowed me to open a CD again in his name, and I made this CD POD to John Doe, thereby honoring my bro's wishes that John Doe have a certain amount of money upon his death. Remember, you are, if the person who asked you to serve as his POA is no longer able to function, sworn to act IN HIS INTERESTS as you understand he would have done things, or would want them to be done. If you have questions you should check with the lawyer who wrote the POA.
Who is currently the beneficiary? Apparently it is not the person who has POA. Unless this change has been agreed to by the grantor, the POA may be abusing his/her authority as POA. The POA has the fiduciary responsibilty to act in the best interest of the grantor. If the change in beneficiary has not be discussed, then I believe the change is illegal and amounts to finacial abuse.
No, a POA can not change anything to personally benefit themselves. Go to your state's attorney general website and see if they have the statutes available that govern POA rules and responsibilities.
AdamDB, came in to clarify something: There are certain instances, while serving as a POA, that a beneficiary of something may be changed. Let us say you are managing the finances of a person as POA. Let us say that a 5 year CD that the person had in his name with John Doe as POD (pay on death). Let us say that this person you are POA for is now living in Assisted Living and his Trust Account, out of which you pay for the ALF and all his other expenses is becoming depleted due to this rise in the cost of living. You CAN, as POA, direct that this CD, instead of rolling over or being reinvested, go into the Trust which pays bills. This would mean that the POD to John Doe no longer exists. Exactly this happened to me when my brother went into Assisted Living and I was his POA and his Trustee for his Trust per his request a year before. There then later was a sale of an asset of his that allowed me to open a CD again in his name, and I made this CD POD to John Doe, thereby honoring my bro's wishes that John Doe have a certain amount of money upon his death.
Remember, you are, if the person who asked you to serve as his POA is no longer able to function, sworn to act IN HIS INTERESTS as you understand he would have done things, or would want them to be done.
If you have questions you should check with the lawyer who wrote the POA.