Can POA put a bank account only in his name?

gewallac, welcome back to the forum. If the Power of Attorney put an account only in his/her own name, then his/her social security number would be linked to that account.

I had my name on my Dad's accounts, but Dad was the primary holder of the account, thus his social security number was there for IRS purposes since all the funds in the account were Dad's only, no co-mingling of funds with the POA. I would write checks for Dad to pay Dad's bills.

gewallac, it depends. If the POA agent is a spouse and the account was in both names, then I think in most states it would be okay to change to just the agent's name. But it would not be okay if the spouses' finances were previously kept seperate or if the agent was anyone other than a spouse as that would appear to be theft. Talk to the financial institution to find out what its procedures are regarding what it is you want to accomplish or if a legal problem has already occurred.

I would say no. My reasoning is Medicaid. This could be looked on as fraud, trying to hide money. Actually, I don't think a POA needs to be on the account at all. I was on Moms before she assigned me POA.

I was POA over my mom and also on her account. She,too, was primary account holder and whatever was in that account was her money and her’s alone. I only used this money for her expenses and had to show the facility where she was at receipts for everything I spent to prove it was only on her. I’m assuming they forwarded them to Medicaid. Why did this person feel it was necessary to put the account only in his name? If this was originally a joint account, he would have needed the other person’s signature. If he opened the account and he's depositing the funds of the person he has POA over, I’d be wondering why as well.