POA Verus Executor

Axel

My partner is named in the will as the executor of his mother's estate? His sister has Power Of Attorney and deals with all of their mother's finances.



What what would happen if his mother died and his sister were to go and withdraw a large sum of money from her mother's bank account as she has the bank card and pin number.

unforeseen

It would be theft as PoA ceases on death.

What happens is up to your partner and what route they want to take. Police, solicitor or just a quiet word about returning the money.

74jax

On notification of death the bank will freeze the account. If the bank doesn't know the person has died then would let the person with poa act as usual.

However, if the person with poa manages to withdraw (owing to the bank not knowing) it would be theft.

On death, poa ceases as you have no-one that needs poa.

TBagpuss

As others have said, powers under the POA end when the donor dies, and even while she is alive, the attorney is only allowed to use funds for the benefit of the donor.

If your partner's mother dies, he should make sure that he informs the bank and other organisations as soon as possible, and then deal with the estate. If at that point he learned that his sister had continued to deal with finances after their mother dies he would have to ask her to reimburse the estate (depending on what the will says, he might simply be able to treat it as part of her inheritance,, and if she was able to provide receipts to show it had been used legitimately for his mother , for instance to cover funeral costs, then although it would not be the correct process, it would likely be something they could work out together)
Of course, it was done intentionally and involved a sum larger that she was entitled to under the estate then he would have to decide what to do, and he would have to bear in mind that as executor he has legal duties, so unless he were the only beneficiary or the residuary beneficiary and was willing to let it go, he might have a duty to involve the police or take other steps to recover any stolen money.