Is it legal for a sibling who has POA for dad's finances to link his personal checking account to dad's?

To answer the question, it isn't illegal to link accounts. My mother's accounts are linked to mine because my name is on her accounts. If I wanted to, I could steal from her. But I won't. It is the thing -- a person who is POA or has their name added to an account has to be trustworthy. If they aren't, there can be a lot of trouble.

I'm my mom's POA in all things and I've lived here for 10 years with her.

We are extremely poor because of our situation and from the start of me helping her manage her funds, we've more or less pooled our resources in order to make ends meet.

I don't steal from her, even if there were anything to steal. I do give to her and she gives to me and even though she is no longer in any mental shape to have input, I just keep doing it like we always did...kind of like we are married or something. We just both put in and she gets all of what she needs and I get most of what I need...if I don't, my bf gives me a donation. Sometimes asked for and sometimes not. But it works out.

When I inherited money (twice) from previous patients I'd had back when nursing, I put the money in our joint account and spent most of it on her and a little bit on me. The second time was a very generous gift and came in the nick of time...I was headed for the breadline when I got the news. She didn't have any money or assets besides her SS income and the house we live in when I move in, and I had disposable jobs until I could no longer leave her safely at home alone for the 4 to 8 hours required by most jobs. Somehow we've always made it...I don't think we'd either one of us had made it if I had kept things separate and delineated.

I'm not worried about it but neither do I provide spread sheets or account to the rest of the family about where 'our' money goes. I don't have that kind of time. If someone questions me about it, I will invite them to create a monthly budget given our income and bills and see what they come up with. If they still believe there is anything suspicious going on, then all I can do is show them where the local police station is and wish them luck with their inquiries.

That's just me, though. Or rather, us.

You should be concerned. For transparency sake, your brother should use your father's accounts to pay for his bills. Is he caring for your father in his home?

Like you, the one with POA in our family refuses to show a spreadsheet as he said it is none of our business. We've seen them spend Mom's money irresponsibly. It's incredibly frustrating - but I've surrendered that to the Lord who knows all things.

Hi, Perseverance, no, he's not caring for dad in his home. Dad is in assisted living. We managed to get bank records and it seems (for the most part) that all dad's expenses have come out of his checking account but there are other cash withdrawals at the ATM that are suspect. What makes us suspicious is that we have also caught him in lies about other property and when confronted he just ignores the question. Perhaps I should surrender this to the Lord, too. We all feel so beat up trying to look out for dad's best interest to no avail.

My sister and I have joint POA,but I am the only one that has needed to use it (so far). I have been paying dads bills for him for 2 years. I am not sure i understand what "linking" accounts really means. I can not think of any benefits to doing something like that. With today's technology and the ease of doing banking online, it is easy to keep the finances separate. As a matter of fact, I actually do my banking at a different bank than my dad.

Thanks, everyone.

What if the brother pulls out $300.00 to $1000.00 in cash regularly and does not keep any kind of record of spreadsheet of where the money is going? How do you address that?