Sibling claims she has power of attorney

Marcon

Brie said:

maybe she's accessing fund that she is allowed to access.  a joint account or has third party authority.

and if she's accessing funds in order to pay for care costs is that a bad thing?  

But if she's clearing out an account of mom's for her own gain and without an actual POA in place then it's theft and should be reported.  If there's any doubt I'd be ringing the bank and ask to talk to their fraud department.

Why waste time speculating? Up to OP to clarify.

biggysmaller

SusieT said:

It could be that the POA has been applied for but not yet granted (in which case it may be possible to object if you had a very good reason), and that the office of public guardian had authorised a one off payment to the care home or for another specified bill. Agree more information is needed

The information I have received from sibling is that she has been granted POA by a judge and there's nothing I can do about it because a judge has agreed with her application. 
This is contradictory to the search at the Office of Public Guardian. My mother's bank also have no records of a deputyship. And no access to my mother's account has occurred since last December. 
All very distressing.

Marcon

biggysmaller said:

SusieT said:

It could be that the POA has been applied for but not yet granted (in which case it may be possible to object if you had a very good reason), and that the office of public guardian had authorised a one off payment to the care home or for another specified bill. Agree more information is needed

The information I have received from sibling is that she has been granted POA by a judge and there's nothing I can do about it because a judge has agreed with her application. 
This is contradictory to the search at the Office of Public Guardian. My mother's bank also have no records of a deputyship. And no access to my mother's account has occurred since last December. 
All very distressing.

It may still be in course of registration, since it doesn't sound as if your sister has actually used it. If your mother's account hasn't been accessed since last December, then your sister clearly isn't taking funds from it, so what exactly is the issue/causing you such distress?

biggysmaller

Marcon said:

biggysmaller said:

SusieT said:

It could be that the POA has been applied for but not yet granted (in which case it may be possible to object if you had a very good reason), and that the office of public guardian had authorised a one off payment to the care home or for another specified bill. Agree more information is needed

The information I have received from sibling is that she has been granted POA by a judge and there's nothing I can do about it because a judge has agreed with her application. 
This is contradictory to the search at the Office of Public Guardian. My mother's bank also have no records of a deputyship. And no access to my mother's account has occurred since last December. 
All very distressing.

It may still be in course of registration, since it doesn't sound as if your sister has actually used it. If your mother's account hasn't been accessed since last December, then your sister clearly isn't taking funds from it, so what exactly is the issue/causing you such distress?

My concerns will be that she has told other family members that she has absolute Power over all of mum's estate and is using that Power to cause me distress which is not in the best interests of my mother. She has already demonised me with the family.

Pollycat

biggysmaller said:

Marcon said:

biggysmaller said:

SusieT said:

It could be that the POA has been applied for but not yet granted (in which case it may be possible to object if you had a very good reason), and that the office of public guardian had authorised a one off payment to the care home or for another specified bill. Agree more information is needed

The information I have received from sibling is that she has been granted POA by a judge and there's nothing I can do about it because a judge has agreed with her application. 
This is contradictory to the search at the Office of Public Guardian. My mother's bank also have no records of a deputyship. And no access to my mother's account has occurred since last December. 
All very distressing.

It may still be in course of registration, since it doesn't sound as if your sister has actually used it. If your mother's account hasn't been accessed since last December, then your sister clearly isn't taking funds from it, so what exactly is the issue/causing you such distress?

My concerns will be that she has told other family members that she has absolute Power over all of mum's estate and is using that Power to cause me distress which is not in the best interests of my mother. She has already demonised me with the family.

Are you sure you understand how Power of Attorney works?
The attorney should exercise POA in the interests of the donor i.e your Mum.
Not to cause distress to anyone else.

biggysmaller

Pollycat said:

biggysmaller said:

Marcon said:

biggysmaller said:

SusieT said:

It could be that the POA has been applied for but not yet granted (in which case it may be possible to object if you had a very good reason), and that the office of public guardian had authorised a one off payment to the care home or for another specified bill. Agree more information is needed

The information I have received from sibling is that she has been granted POA by a judge and there's nothing I can do about it because a judge has agreed with her application. 
This is contradictory to the search at the Office of Public Guardian. My mother's bank also have no records of a deputyship. And no access to my mother's account has occurred since last December. 
All very distressing.

It may still be in course of registration, since it doesn't sound as if your sister has actually used it. If your mother's account hasn't been accessed since last December, then your sister clearly isn't taking funds from it, so what exactly is the issue/causing you such distress?

My concerns will be that she has told other family members that she has absolute Power over all of mum's estate and is using that Power to cause me distress which is not in the best interests of my mother. She has already demonised me with the family.

Are you sure you understand how Power of Attorney works?
The attorney should exercise POA in the interests of the donor i.e your Mum.
Not to cause distress to anyone else.

Yes i do understand the terms of poa.

biggysmaller

I need to add that when my mum was admitted to hospital pre care home my sister did not declare to local authority or social worker she had a son!

Brie

biggysmaller said:

I need to add that when my mum was admitted to hospital pre care home my sister did not declare to local authority or social worker she had a son!

Maybe it's just a case of her not mentioning it.  This would be ok for a lot of situations.  But if she was asked "are there any other next of kin that might call or need to be informed?" and she said there wasn't - well that's not very good.  But when there's a conflict (for whatever reason, no matter who is at fault) there may be times when someone needs to say "whatever you do don't let A or B in to see her as it will cause all sorts of problems!"   I presume that's not the situation with you as your say no one was aware of your existence.

Ultimately it sounds like you and Sis need to talk this one out.

biggysmaller

Brie said:

biggysmaller said:

I need to add that when my mum was admitted to hospital pre care home my sister did not declare to local authority or social worker she had a son!

Maybe it's just a case of her not mentioning it.  This would be ok for a lot of situations.  But if she was asked "are there any other next of kin that might call or need to be informed?" and she said there wasn't - well that's not very good.  But when there's a conflict (for whatever reason, no matter who is at fault) there may be times when someone needs to say "whatever you do don't let A or B in to see her as it will cause all sorts of problems!"   I presume that's not the situation with you as your say no one was aware of your existence.

Ultimately it sounds like you and Sis need to talk this one out.

I have it written in black and white from care home that rhe local authority were not told of my existence therefore sister was given power to make decisions.

Daniel54

It is possible that your mother has an old style Enduring POA 

Under an Enduring POA your sister can act as an an attorney with your mother's permission

An Enduring POA only requires to be registered with the OPG once your mother has medically lost capacity

I see Bobster raised the same point

How have you managed to ascertain that no POA has been registered with the bank and that there have been no unusual movements in your mother's account.This is not information that would normally be granted to you.

You may also be unaware that care home spaces are at a premium .In the case of my now deceased aunt we were given two days to take up the room and arrange the transfer.My sister organised all of this and used my name solely as the source of future funds ( we were joint attorneys)