I just need to say that if I had not been with my Mom when she changed her Will and did her POA, I may not have known I was assigned. Nowhere on Moms POAs is my signature saying I except the position. I was not given copies. My Mom kept the paperwork where I could find it. I eventually took it and all her important papers when her Dementia worsened. To me the person assigned should sign excepting. They also should be given a copy of do and don't.
POA means your the persons representative. As such any decisions you make should be based on how the principle would handle it. There are two types immediate, which comes into effect immediately at the time the person signs and Springing where a doctor or two needs to say the principle is not competent to handle their own affairs. Even with the immediate, if the person is competent they are still in charge.
Your responsibility as POA is to make sure bills are paid. You don't need to physically care for them or be at their beck and call, but you can hire the people to help them. Or find resources. You are not financially responsible for them. When the money is gone, you will need to find options for the principles care. POA does not give you the ability to keep family from seeing the principle unless these people cause problems. You only use the principles money on them. When it comes to Medical, you follow their wishes.
Because you are the person's representative, you are under no obligation to keep family in the loop. If the principle was private concerning their finances, so should u be. You do not answer to family. The person made you POA for a reason. Best thing, keep their affairs private.
Keep good records. My Mom had only her house so my POA was pretty simple. I paid her bills by check so her bank statement showed all her transactions. I reimbursed myself once a month by check. I put the receipts in an envelope with the check# and amount on the front. Her statement showed the money going in and coming out. She had a small pension she got by check which she always cashed. I would cash the check, putting the money into an envelope. This was for her personal needs. I kept a running total with receipts. Again, in an envelope.
So to answer your question you are not obligated to give family any information. You are the person the Financial institution deals with and the Doctors. Unless Mom has put other family members on her HIPPA form, doctors, nurses and other staff can only talk to you. If you feel that the principle would want family to know about their condition than you can tell them. But remember, you are the POA. You make the decisions.
I was POA because I was the closest child living in the same town. My brothers never asked about finances. I did keep them informed of Moms health because I felt they were her children too and she would not have minded.
POA has absolutely no responsibility to family members. But, actually they do, to keep the grantor's information completely private. It is non of the family's business.
The POA's job is to act in the best interests of the person who granted it to them.
For example, I was my mother's POA. My job was to oversee medical decisions for her and handle her finances. My brother, who is in the middle of an ugly divorce and is not a bad person in any way, asked for an advance on his inheritance to help pay off his ex-wife. I had to say no, because while I know my parents would have given him that money in a heartbeat (and I'd have had no issue with it either), my duty was to preserve my mother's money for her care. By taking a huge hunk out of her funds, I would have diminished the ability of her investments to earn money to keep her in her memory care.
While it was 99% likely it wouldn't have caused a huge problem, that wasn't the point -- the money was my mother's and was for her care, and my job was to take care of her money as though she was going to live to be 120. I had no obligation to help my brother with his money issues, and he understood. My obligation was entirely to my mother and her care, and that's what I did.
Now that Mom is gone, and we've split the funds, I have a feeling my brother is going to make me his POA. He likes the way I handled the job. :-)
If you were assigned as a PoA for someone you would have (should have) received a copy of the paperwork. The paperwork would outline what specific powers you have and when they are active. For example: a "springing" PoA is when 1 or more diagnosis of incapacity of the grantor by a doctor is required for the PoA authority to become activated. "Durable" goes into effect the moment the paperwork is signed (at the discretion of the grantor if they are not yet incapacitated but wish for the Attorney in Fact to begin acting on their behalf).
POA means your the persons representative. As such any decisions you make should be based on how the principle would handle it. There are two types immediate, which comes into effect immediately at the time the person signs and Springing where a doctor or two needs to say the principle is not competent to handle their own affairs. Even with the immediate, if the person is competent they are still in charge.
Your responsibility as POA is to make sure bills are paid. You don't need to physically care for them or be at their beck and call, but you can hire the people to help them. Or find resources. You are not financially responsible for them. When the money is gone, you will need to find options for the principles care. POA does not give you the ability to keep family from seeing the principle unless these people cause problems. You only use the principles money on them. When it comes to Medical, you follow their wishes.
Because you are the person's representative, you are under no obligation to keep family in the loop. If the principle was private concerning their finances, so should u be. You do not answer to family. The person made you POA for a reason. Best thing, keep their affairs private.
Keep good records. My Mom had only her house so my POA was pretty simple. I paid her bills by check so her bank statement showed all her transactions. I reimbursed myself once a month by check. I put the receipts in an envelope with the check# and amount on the front. Her statement showed the money going in and coming out. She had a small pension she got by check which she always cashed. I would cash the check, putting the money into an envelope. This was for her personal needs. I kept a running total with receipts. Again, in an envelope.
So to answer your question you are not obligated to give family any information. You are the person the Financial institution deals with and the Doctors. Unless Mom has put other family members on her HIPPA form, doctors, nurses and other staff can only talk to you. If you feel that the principle would want family to know about their condition than you can tell them. But remember, you are the POA. You make the decisions.
I was POA because I was the closest child living in the same town. My brothers never asked about finances. I did keep them informed of Moms health because I felt they were her children too and she would not have minded.
For example, I was my mother's POA. My job was to oversee medical decisions for her and handle her finances. My brother, who is in the middle of an ugly divorce and is not a bad person in any way, asked for an advance on his inheritance to help pay off his ex-wife. I had to say no, because while I know my parents would have given him that money in a heartbeat (and I'd have had no issue with it either), my duty was to preserve my mother's money for her care. By taking a huge hunk out of her funds, I would have diminished the ability of her investments to earn money to keep her in her memory care.
While it was 99% likely it wouldn't have caused a huge problem, that wasn't the point -- the money was my mother's and was for her care, and my job was to take care of her money as though she was going to live to be 120. I had no obligation to help my brother with his money issues, and he understood. My obligation was entirely to my mother and her care, and that's what I did.
Now that Mom is gone, and we've split the funds, I have a feeling my brother is going to make me his POA. He likes the way I handled the job. :-)
The POA's obligation are to the grantor, not to the family of the grantor.