Follow
Share

When my sister that had POA (Will made when our mother was alive and father and both were in sound mind and body) could no longer take care of my father, my eldest sister stepped in to keep him. She then took my father (diagnosed with Dementia 2016) to a lawyer and changed his Will to her name and having the power of attorney and financial POA without consulting the rest of us. There are reasons my parents did not appoint the eldest as POA in the first place. Although we are not pursuing any legal action because our father is good right now, I struggle with her going behind our backs and not letting my other siblings that live there see him without her and her husband hovering over the whole time.

This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Find Care & Housing
In my opinion it only makes sense that the person who has to do the care also has the legal authority to make the decisions. As Countrymouse has said, being diagnosed with dementia is not the same thing as being incompetent, so as long as the lawyer was satisfied your father understood what he was doing at the time he was perfectly capable of changing his POA and amending his will. I gather your relationship with oldest sister is not the best, but she did step up and took dad in when the other sister could no longer care for him. As for not being able to visit freely, you can hardly expect her to vacate her home whenever you choose to visit. And I might point out that my mom is in a nursing home and I have absolutely no privacy to visit there either because mom has room mates and the lounges are always occupied... unfortunately it is often just another of those things we have to accept as our parents age.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

Gisela, important point number 1 is that a will and a Power of Attorney are completely separate documents doing completely different things.

You say your father was diagnosed with dementia in 2016; but has he also been declared incompetent? Dementia isn't an on/off switch. In the earlier stages, a person with dementia can still be capable of weighing up and making a decision. So if the powers of attorney were altered, this can only have been legitimately done with your father's full knowledge and valid consent. Is that what you want to challenge?
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Ask a Question
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter