I suspect that a financial POA exists for my father, and that my brother used it to sell the house. How do I find out for sure?

If your father has been in long term care following a stroke three months ago, and you found out about the house sale only a week or two ago, when was the house sold supposedly by a person acting with POA on your father's behalf? It matters: you might find that what you should actually be doing is making a report of suspected fraud to the police. Maybe even forgery. I certainly wouldn't rely on lawyers rubber-stamping what looked like a straightforward sale to have investigated the documents on their own initiative - if your brother told a good tale and presented apparently valid authority, why would they have had any concerns?

Can your father not shed any light at all on what's been going on? I'm not suggesting you interrogate him, or necessarily rely on what he says without verifying the information first, but it's worth asking him, surely?

Looks as if he's done it again.... HOW do they get away with it? You had better keep investigating if you want to be sure that the money goes to your father's care....

I contacted my brother and he flat out denied that the house was sold. The sales agent told me that the sale was done under a power of attorney that only listed my brother. I suspect he secretly created a new one that supersedes the old one that had both of us listed as executors. And got my dad to sign it somehow. If it passed the scrutiny of the real estate lawyers then I guess there's not much I can do.

I will contact the law office again about the financial POA, but if there's a newer one that overrides it then there isn't much point.

My father's been in long term care for 3 months. My extended family have all pitched in to pay for his care. Most of the funds are coming from my father's bank account, controlled by my sister. My brother and I are not on speaking terms. He doesn't have any money of his own, has borrowed large sums of money from my parents in the past without repaying, and has been hounding the family inheritance for a long time. A few years ago he convinced my father to sell off some farmland, and pocketed the money for himself under the pretense of watching the money for my father. This caused a lot of friction within the family, as we all knew he was using the money to fund his own lifestyle. This recent house sale is in line with his past behavior.

If your name was on the financial POA as secondary, then you did not need to be consulted. However, if your name on the financial POA is joint with his, then you did need to be consulted. You need to find out what the financial POA actually says and how it says it. I think that you need to have a serious discussion with your brother as a concerned sister and not as attacking, accusing person. I hope that his reason for selling it was to pay for your father's care which is the only proper used of the money.

BTW, the lawyer is lying to you.

I have sold a couple houses over the years acting as the POA for the owner.

In every case, the POA had to be on file with county clerks office.
This is scrutinized heavily. I even had to sign a reaffirmation in one case.

Your brother couldn't have sold the house without that level of authority. The title company would have found your Dad the owner...and would have stopped the sale until the POA was validated.

If the house was sold, you should check either online or in person at the recorder's office in the county the house sits. If the house was sold via a POA, the POA needs to be recorded - either before the transaction or at the time the remaining documents are recorded.

It's certainly a way to see the POA, if in fact it was used to sell the house. If it wasn't used, you can review the deeds and releases that were filed for signature issues. If it was a conservatorship sale, again, the recorder's office would have that information.

Best wishes.

The law office is being a little disingenuous. Do you have the documentation naming you as your father's POA for welfare? Because pretty obviously you cannot fulfil that responsibility without knowledge of your father's resources, #1; and it should also authorise you to be kept informed of who you should be working with, #2; so I'd go back and argue.

Would I be right to guess that you are not on easy speaking terms with your brother? Because the other obvious step is to ask him about the house sale. A house can't just be sold 'look no hands' and if you believe that he sold it using a financial power of attorney then why would you not call him and ask what's going on?

You can't just leave this, because you have a responsibility to concern yourself with your father's welfare and paying for his care is integral to that - it *is* your business, even if it turns out not to be your decision.

Come to that, how is his care being paid for? What about asking the facility how the bills are being handled?

How long has your father been in long term care?

I'm thinking that perhaps your brother might be the financial POA for a couple reasons.

If your fathers house was in his name, it's highly unlikely the house sale would have occurred without your brother having the POA authority to put it on the market. Both the real estate agent and any title company would have required seeing it.

If you had been the financial POA the lawyer likely would have shown you the document- as that is what the document does - allowed the person to legally act as your father.

Lastly, it seem fairly common that parents name one child medical POA and another financial POA - spreading out authority and not favoring one child.

Of course it's entirely possible that I'm wrong on these points. Have you talked to the real estate agent in charge of selling the house? That may be a good place to start by challenging the legality of selling the house. You may be able to bluff and/or rattle the agent enough to get them to tell you how the authority to sell came about - with your father in the condition that he is in.