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When I had to do banking for my mother, even though I showed them POA signed by my mother, & we have joint accounts, bank still required additional POA from bank. Other things I have to get notarized every year such as her pension income to continue & they have me on file as POA. Nobody can just show up with POA unless they prior approved it . Hugs 🤗
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Reply to CaregiverL
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Harry, it sounds to me as if you are wary of assigning anyone as your POA, in case you later change your mind. Or you have assigned someone and now you are regretting it.

Firstly, it's best to not have multiple people assigned as power of attorney for you. It can get messy.
If you have complicated financial affairs, then simplify them now, while you can. Otherwise, get your legal advisor to help you make it more simple for the assigned POA to deal with.
If you have a separate health POA from a financial POA, make sure they can work together, as your healthcare will require both their input.
If you are worried about someone taking over your affairs before you are ready, then don't assign a durable POA. Make any POA contingent upon you becoming incapacitated.
If you have already assigned POA and want to change it, just make sure that all relevant institutions know who the current POA is and that the previous one has been revoked.

Once you no longer have capacity, you cannot make any changes. Choose who you most trust. If you don't trust anyone, then give these powers to a "professional fiduciary" (thanks Geaton) who carries out such duties.

You do not need multiple people to sign off on things for you. Once you no longer have capacity, your life should have been simplified.

A financial institution that still deals with an agent whose POA has been revoked could be sued, so they're careful. An assigned POA who does not act in the best interests of the assignee can be accused of criminal behaviour or charged with fraud (depending on what they did wrong). So, there are checks to protect a person who has been incapacitated.

It seems that you are having difficulty with trust. If you don't trust someone - whether it's someone close to you, or someone you pay, to look after your wellbeing and assets, then you will never have peace of mind.
Don't you deserve at least that in your twilight years?
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Reply to MiaMoor
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Why are you asking?
Has it been revoked or reassigned?
What's the full story here?

You might need / want to contact an attorney specializing in elder care / trusts, etc.

Gena / Touch Matters
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Reply to TouchMatters
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If your POA documents were done by an actual lawyer (not downloaded from the internet) and the bank has these documents on record, they are totally legal. How can the bank or other financial or medical institution know if they have been revoked or re-assigned?

The only way for that to become known is if new legal documents are brought in and put on record. Even then they aren't always accepted and sometimes a banks and other institutions will require there be a hearing at the probate court. Then another document is added signed by the probate judge to override the former POA and make the new one active.
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It really depends on the type of POA you get. Immediate means as soon as you sign the POA, the POA is involked. You can still make decisions. Springing means that a doctor or doctors have to declare you incompetent to make informed decisions for the POA to be invoked.

IRS does not look at bank accounts. All they care about is you pay taxes on your yearly income. You can have your acct set up however you like. The person can be added on as POA and upon your death, the POA is voided, then the Executor takes over. Ask your Bank about the different ways to add someone to your acct.

If you have not seen a lawyer yet to draw up a POA, I suggest that both you and the person you are assigning go to the lawyer together. You can have things added to a POA. By both going, the lawyer can explain to the person what having POA means and their responsibility to you.

Moms POA was immediate. She suffered from Dementia. I took the POA into the bank and they ran off a copy and that was it. I did not have to prove her disability.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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HARRY wrote below
“I’m getting old and want someone to help with financial and other affairs if necessary. Some answers here assume that you’ve established POA with everyone who may require your signature but my atty didn’t indicate that. There are likely situations where that’s not the case. Particularly if your financial life is complex.”

Harry, there is a site often recommended for financial questions. It is called boggleheads.org.

If you look around on it you might find helpful info. You can do a search for existing threads on Power of Attorney or pose your own question. I hope that helps.
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Reply to 97yroldmom
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Geaton777 Jun 2, 2025
Bogleheads.org

Only 1 g in the name.
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Might be a good idea to notify your financial institutions - especially those for loans and banks - about any POA type documents and changes. Remember that those POAs do not go into effect until you are unable to make decisions for yourself.
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Harrylcnm Jun 1, 2025
That’s not necessarily true in the case of a durable POA.
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I agree with the responses that one would need to be proactive about notifying all banks & other prior recipients of the former POA. Personally I'd go a step further as the new POA and shift funds to new accounts or even banks if it can be done without a domino effect of other problems.

I would also test the process after a few weeks --- call customer service, find out what the front-end folks at each bank/etc see when they access the accounts to help you. Getting the process done on your end doesn't always cleanly translate to having the bank take care of all their internal loose ends.
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Reply to DaughterByLaw
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I'm baffled, not sure where you are going but if the POA has been rewritten, those doing so would have to prove that it was the intent of the one who had it previously notarized. Signature, ID,social security number. I don't know how many people who willingly give out their SSN. If they are saying they are next in line, they will have to provide a certificate of death to make the claim. I tried to close a cable account that was in dads name but never had mom on it. She had been paying the bill for nearly 10 years but I had to prove it. If there's any kind of discrepancy the institution has to investigate, comparing Signatures for starters, the SSN of both parties. This original should be on file with the state, possibly asking them if another has been filed could help? I don't know if they can throw in an alert of a possible identity theft? It gets really tricky if someone did a change and the person wasn't cognizant at the time. If you hold the original, copies should be sent to financial accounts.
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Reply to JuliaH
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Harrylcnm: The bank will require photo ID.
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Reply to Llamalover47
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I gave my bank a copy of the document to have on hand in case needed. When needed, the assigned POA will go to the bank.
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Reply to JanPeck123
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Banks are very careful to ID customers to prove they are who they say they are.

I do want to answer your question with my question. What if the loved one, a financial customer, especially with dementia, is in a care facility and absolutely unable get out to his/her financial institution? Will an agent represent them at the facility with his and his POA's ID? A video and photo of the customer may be helpful.
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Reply to Patathome01
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No one knows unless you tell them. That's why banks require that their customer, i.e. you, be with the POA at the time of the visit. You are the bank's customer, not your POA. The bank will want to both verify the authenticity of the POA documents and *your* intentions and capacity to understand the purpose of the visit to the bank.
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Harrylcnm Jun 2, 2025
That’s kind of difficult if the subject is totally disabled with, say, late stage dementia.
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I live in a small town where Mom and I did our banking at the same bank. So Moms POA and me being assigned was excepted with no problem.

The Bank would not know if it was revoked and reassigned without you contacting them. When a POA is reassigned, it says in the body of the new document that all POAs prior to this one have been revoked. Its up to you to contact your doctors, banking institutions and anyone else that may have been given a copy, that the prior assignment has been revoked and replaced with a new person. Then you make sure everyone gets a new copy of the POA. You can call everyone and give them a heads up, too. You could have a formal letter sent to everyone from the lawyer.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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If I was revoking or reassigning POA for some reason I would notify all of my financial institutions along with my medical team. A person can have more than one POA and POA documents can limit/clearly spell out the scope of representation, for instance “Alice may act as my POA for this particular transaction” or “Alice has full authority to act on my behalf”.
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Reply to Lymie61
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I may be wrong but I would have thought you supply bank with new copy of poa
and it be updated in the system. When x y z company looks to check they wouldn’t be able to sparking security alert- I would have thought
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Reply to Jenny10
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I was sitting in the social security office waiting for my turn. You hear all sorts of things there. I heard someone complaining their son had stolen $16,000 from them. From being the POA for my father, I could see how that could happen. You tell people who you made POA and you leave your estate planning documents accessible (not locked up). Then the unethical person searches around until they find the POA and goes to the bank to access accounts.
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Lymie61 Jun 1, 2025
Typically the bank will require photo ID along with the POA documents which name the person I think.
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Because you told them would be my not an attorney quick answer.

Are you asking what is to keep someone from taking the POA you assigned them and using it after you have revoked it and reassigned it?

I know you chose a bank as an example but banks are pretty exacting…see Geaton’s post. Although Geaton’s example was to be established as POA at the bank. Your query reads more like after the person was already POA and now you are revoking.

I suppose if I thought someone I had trusted enough to make my agent via a POA had gone roque and I had to revoke the POA, it would behove me to take action immediately.

Speak to my attorney for advice and to review all legal documents, freeze my credit, notify all financial and medical including pharmacy that I had made a change. It would depend on the scope of the principals holdings as to who should be notified.

It’s an interesting question. Care to share what prompted it?
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Reply to 97yroldmom
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Geaton777 May 28, 2025
I would think that if an agent was cognizant enough to go through a revocation then that person would also be able to call (or visit) their institutions to inform them of the revocation. If they assigned a new PoA, then the new PoA would need to show up at the bank with the agent with the new PoA paperwork and go through the process.
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In my experience with WF, BoA, PNC, and TDA, one bank required me to bring in the agents (my Aunts), regardless that they were old (100+) and demented. One bank did allow me to bring in their ID cards without the agents. No bank allowed me to just show up with documents and become the FPoA on demand. I had to resubmit all my information as if a PoA was being created for the first time and sign a ton of their paperwork, copy my ID, etc. In the end it resulted in me being joint on their accounts even though that wasn't what I was there for but it worked for me. I was rightfully thoroughly scrutinized.
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Harrylcnm Jun 1, 2025
I’ve considered putting trusted people on accounts but that could conceivably raise interest by the IRS. Where did they suddenly get all those funds?
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A POA takes their documents to the Bank and becomes a part of all financial accounts as the signee for checking and etc. That person takes on management and billpaying, etc. If yet ANOTHER person shows up with yet another POA that one should revoke the rights of the original person; otherwise there would be a conflict. The Bank should follow up when a new POA shows up by reading the document, checking with attornies, contacting the old POA, and etc.

Your question should be asked of the banking institution. They will give you a more accurate answer for their own institution and how it handles this.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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Harrylcnm Jun 1, 2025
WF told me that POA along with proof of my disability gets recorded and gives the person access to my affairs. Of course this was maybe just the policy of the guy in that branch. Doesn’t appear there are any consistent rules.
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