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We need to keep her in her home, she need funds for her care. RE financing her home is a way to help, but The banks are not accepting my legal form? Any suggestion i really dont want to get guardianship if i don't have too.

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They don't have to accept the DPOA; not accepting totally is a CYA for them. I've found that if you go into a local branch, the teller will not accept anything and neither will the branch officers. BoA = nonstarters for POA acceptance.

You need to go to the main office OR a branch that has a trust department as the officers who work trust understand and can evaluate the DPOA to make sure it complies with state requirements for financial. You need to have your own 2 - ID's too ( 1 is your DL and the other either a passport or something that legally establishes legal residency like voters registration) & dress appropriately and have your act together. Often on-line POA are "springing" and totally useless. For my mom they looked to see that DPOA done by a local attorney with appropriate seals / letterhead / notary details too.
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Yes some banks and investment entities want to see their client in person, and have them sign in their presence, when allowing another person to have control of their client's entire savings. That is a good practice generally. If they just let someone with a piece of paper come in and demand to be in charge, I would expect there to be some hesitation. For my parent's accounts at USBank, WellsFargo, Hartford, and a couple others, they all had their own in-house forms, all different. Some needed to be notarized and one even required a medallion signature. If you encounter "trouble", that's a good thing.
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Dear Pitbull I had a similar situation with my mother (age 103) being required by the state of Georgia to come to the DL office to get a state ID before they would allow her to have a homestead exemption on her home in GA. She has had the home for over 20 years, but they decided that since there was not a phone listing for her in the white pages she didn't live there, she had to get a state ID and the only way was to go there in person. I have a DPOA, but it did me no good in this situation. Fortunately my name is on all of her banking, and when I got a loan modification, Chase accepted my DPOA. They were very reasonable and good to work with on this.
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I experienced the same thing from my father's bank. I went to another branch and they accepted my POA.
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Here in NYC, Chase bank gave me a very hard time. Also, I got stopped banking while female. Their lawyers misinterpreted the POA and put my brother down as the POA, though he was clearly listed if only upon my death. They fixed it but not before treating me like a criminal trying to steal my mother's money. The bank manager at this bank is a particular snarky individual, but no doubt aided and abetted by obnoxious, suspicious lawyering. If I weren't so tuckered out from caregiving I'd give them the bird and go elsewhere.
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Thank you ... with research i looked deeply into her Living will and I am named Trustee and as the Trustee there is a POA form all it needs is her Dr. to fill out a certification that my mom is unable to take care of her finances and heath issues. So now is what i am working on . Thank you all for your answers
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If your relative had a personal banker, go meet with him/her so they can size you up and determine you are legitimate. Get their card, get the name of the forms they want. Get your relative's attorney to help you get recognized. It is essential that you succeed at this so you can help pay for services that are needed. Banks just loathe recognizing DPOAs. Expect to spend hours for each account. Persistence usually pays off.
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We had this issue with Chase for FIL's acct- we had a legal POA- the bank has their own form's we needed to have mobile notary come to NH to verify FiL signature. And the bank was okay- they just needed it on their forms for their legal department.
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Unfortunately, there are frequently problems with certain banks recognizing the validity of a Durable Power of Attorney. On the private email listserv subscribed to by elder law attorneys across the U.S. there were often pleas of exasperation from attorneys trying to get their DPOA recognized by certain banks, and other attorneys saying they avoid such and such bank for that reason but have never had trouble with so and so bank.
Since the policies of the various banks may change over time, I cannot give specific names, but simply wanted to point out that there may not be anything missing from your document, it may simply be a troublesome bank.

My suggestion is to have the attorney who drafted the document call over to an executive at that bank branch to throw a little weight around. If you cannot use that attorney for some reason, it may be cost effective to pay a different attorney to make the call; certainly it would be cheaper and less invasive to family privacy than going through the court procedure of obtaining a guardianship or conservatorship.
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I had similar experience to stargazer. Some entities gave me a problem with the Durable POA. Example: My father is presently in nursing home temporarily for rehab/pt. He cannot stand, cannot pivot into or out of a wheelchair and must be lifted into it with help of 3 attendants, he is in the late stage of dementia and would have absolutely no idea what he is signing and is in no mental state to possibly make any decisions -- he would agree to anything at this point in his condition. I would not ever feel comfortable or "right" having him sign anything, since he no longer has any semblance of free will. But, even more ridiculous is that the DMV expected him to physically come into the office to have his picture taken and sign for a NYS non-driver id card, even after I explained his condition repeatedly and it would entail an involved and expensive task to get him there and back -- an ambulette and an aide, and an operation of monumental proportions to bring him through a mall and into a DMV office to sign his name. Further, the Toyota dealer I had been working with in one town to lease a new car in my father's name (all material items are in his name) insisted that their policy is to not accept POA for anything. Disheartened, I took a chance at a Toyota dealer in a bigger city and with a greater track-record and rating, and they gave me no trouble about the POA at all -- and a MUCH better deal. It's worth not taking no for an answer until after you've tested other possibilities.
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I have been there too. I took my lawyer with me to the bank. My bank contact was helpful but had to follow protocol by contacting the legal dept (offsite) My lawyer was able to answer and argue the questions for me that came up. This likely saved weeks of back and forth. It does sound like you need a lawyer on your side. The bank just wants to be sure they don't get sued.
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I have found that my DPOA is not accepted by the Railroad Pension agency and the Life Insurance company. Because i wasnt going to argue with dads pension (railroad) i filled out all the paper and had the doctor fill out her part (that was fun...) For the insurance, i got a certified letter from the attorney stating that he DPOA (while not the original copy) was a legally enforced copy and the insurance company took it. Except for the Railroad, any problems i have had has been that my original DPOA is missing...
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Ask that particular bank what they require and why they are not accepting your POA. You don't say if your mother has dementia, but there must be something wrong with the POA wording or form. Just ask the bank what they require.
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When I needed to using the durable poa, I registered it with the Register of Deeds in the county where my cousin lived. It is assigned a number as stated above. Then I took it to my cousin's bank and they required a copy of the document and for me to produce my ID and sign an affidavit that I was the POA.

However, your mom's account is one in which Social Security benefits are deposited, you aren't suppose to sign checks on that account unless you apply to be the Beneficiary Payee, even if you are POA. I would check to see if that is the issue,
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I made an appointment with Legal Aid. Then I took my dad there & he & the attorney completed the forms & the attorney had them notorized. There was no charge. (Dad also did health care POA at the same time.) Dad gave me Durable Power of Attorney. When I conduct business for my dad usually the company will ask me to scan or fax a copy to them. I have not had any problems conducting business for my dad.
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BOA was a huge pain in the a**, BTW. I finally got relief by going to another office with someone who knew what they were talking about : (
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In my county, the durable poa must be registered at a county office and given a number and they put a stamp on it...without that, the poa, durable or not durable has no legal effect...That could be the hitch...

Good luck.
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If your POA is only for medical care, then you need a DPOA that gives you authority to handle all finances and assets too. Wells Fargo worked with me to set up a bank account for my father, partly because I already held other accounts at that same bank, plus I hold a very far-reaching DPOA. You will also need to be assigned as Representative Payee by the Social Security Administration IF you parent receives also receives SS funds. This requires a visit to your "local" SS office. The payable on death (POD) comment above is sound advice; however, a POA/DPOA ceases upon death, so make sure you are the executor of the estate so you can pay the final expenses. Finally, one other question, is your dad of sound mind? If so, you can execute the DPOA and the Representative Payee forms without much hindrance. Keep up the good fight.
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If you have POA and it is active, you should be able to do everything in your mom's name. Why aren't they accepting your paperwork?

Many financial institutions have special policies. BOA wants me to bring the person with the POA to a branch office. I am applying for Frail Elder help to keep ADW in her home. If I am out-of-service she still need funds for her care. Our local POA is an attorney. I am considering three banks all have similar access issues. Fidelity also has their own POA procedure and require in-person set up.

{Q}Subject: Do holders of my POA have access to my checking account?
Thank you for your email. Please step into the branch with your Power of Attorney representative and the documents required. A branch representative will be able to add your Power of Attorney onto your membership account and depending on what is stated in the POA document, he/she may have access to your membership accounts.{EQ}

I wonder if they accept checks drawn on account signed by a POA ...hmmmm ?????
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Ask them what form they want. You need a Durable Power of Attorney. Not just a POA. The bank might have a specific form. Can she sign a new form? You need to get your name on the account and get a POD (payable on death) for the account so you can access her friends after she passes so you can pay for her expenses. You may need to ask to speak to someone higher up at the bank because the person you were talking to mighr not even understand what a power of attorney is. You may have enough authority with the POA YOU HAVE TO SIGN THE POA THEY WANT. There is some software called WillMaker that has several legal forms on it that you need. You install the software and answer the questions and it prints out wills living wills durable power of attorney and several other forms.The software cost about $35. You can get it on eBay or Amazon. Everything is a struggle. You have to learn to not take no for an answer. Keep moving up the chain at the bank until you find someone who is competent. God Bless you.
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If you have POA and it is active, you should be able to do everything in your mom's name. Why aren't they accepting your paperwork?
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