As a POA, is it absolutely required that I give deadbeat siblings updates on my mother in-law?

Does the Power of Attorney document include a clause that explains who has the Right to Receive an Accounting? A well drafted POA will include a direction to the agent (attorney-in-fact) that says in plain English who has the right to get information, and how often.

This is another example of why everyone reading this should hire an attorney who knows and understands the client and their family members, when preparing to sign their POA. Form documents simply don’t provide the directions that are needed in many situations, such as difficult family dynamics.

In your case, you could consult an elder law attorney in your state who will review your mother-in-law’s POA, and explain the best practices for accounting for your mother-in-laws funds. If you keep good records, in a format that is easily understood, there is no reason you should be worrying about unreasonable requests from people who are not helping with care.

Thank you all again for your input and thanks John, for your expert opinion. I did review my POA and there was no clause in there stating that I need to provide information to anyone (specifically family). As someone else had recommended, I decided to ask my mother in law directly if SHE wanted me to send out updates (to her other children) in any way, shape, or form and she stated very decidedly, "no"! Armed with that, I feel much better going forward and I am obviously keeping very good records of everything, just in case. I did obtain an elder law attorney's contact where I live, because next up is trying to figure out what to do with her credit card debt. Fun times! Thanks again everyone...