Power of attorney

helpkitty

Hi is it an offence for a family member to claim they have power of attorney for an elder family member when the register says they dont?
Thanks in advance!
Kitty

Keep_pedalling

If they are claiming they have it to carry out any financial transactions or to make welfare decisions they will need to present the documentation to prove that they have the authority so I don’t think it would go any further so no criminal action could actually take place.

mexican_dave

The law is clear, either you have paperwork lodged with the Office if Public Guardian or you don't, to claim any grey area is wrong, there is not half-way measure.
So what's going on here?

Malthusian

mexican_dave said:

The law is clear, either you have paperwork lodged with the Office if Public Guardian or you don't, to claim any grey area is wrong, there is not half-way measure.

There are a couple.

General / Ordinary Powers of Attorney (which become invalid if the donor loses capacity, but can be used to allow someone to manage their affairs while they are abroad or similar) do not need to be lodged with the Office of the Public Guardian. So someone can in fact have "power of attorney for an elder family member" without it being registered.

Someone may also have a third party mandate over a family member's bank account, which again is no interest to the OPG, and they might refer to it as a "power of attorney" to others having heard that term on TV. They wouldn't be far wrong. 

Only lasting or enduring powers of attorney need to be lodged with the OPG.

As per Keep Pedalling, the answer to the original question is that it is extremely unlikely any criminal offence could be committed by claiming to have Power of Attorney for someone when you don't, because of the unlikelihood that anyone would simply take your word for it. 

If they were using a forged POA, that would be a criminal offence, but that goes far beyond what is suggested in the OP. It would also be very easy to catch.

helpkitty

Apologies for the delay in responding, it would appear in this case to be a family member falsely claiming to have Power of attorney in order to threaten and bully a younger member of the family into burying their parents ashes where the estranged grandparent will be buried.

RAS

This remains rather opaque.

A power of attorney is only effective during a person's life. How is that person related to the deceased, and the bullied youngster?

Sea_Shell

helpkitty said:

Apologies for the delay in responding, it would appear in this case to be a family member falsely claiming to have Power of attorney in order to threaten and bully a younger member of the family into burying their parents ashes where the estranged grandparent will be buried.

That's a bit confusing.

Who are they claiming to have POA for?    The deceased parent, or the grandparent?   Someone else (Executor)?

If either of the deceased, then they no longer have any authority, as ALL POA's of any type, cease on death.