Can this be true? (Power of Attorney)

[MrsSchadenfreude]

My mother was telling me about a friend of hers the other day, who is in her late 80s. She had a fall, spent quite a long time in hospital, then went to a convalescence place for a bit, until she was more mobile. She found out, apparently, when she wanted to go home, that her niece, who had POA, had sold her house, got rid of all the contents and had emigrated to Canada. There is nothing she can do, and is now in council sheltered accommodation. (She was in hospital and then the convalescence place for several months, this didn't happen in a few weeks.)

My Mum said her friend does not have dementia at all, her problems were purely physical. Can this really happen? I see no reason to disbelieve my mother, and her friend is, indeed in sheltered housing now, with a new family in her bungalow.

Yes it can. You need to be very careful who you give POA to.

It's theft. Whatever type of POA it was.

If it was as your title suggests a straight forward POA then the attorney could act immediately appointed.

If it was a Lasting POA then the attorney would have needed a medical report evidencing lack of capacity, which they will have had to register with the Court of Protection, before they could exercise their powers under the POA.

Is it possible that the niece sold the house to pay for her Aunts convalescence care?

When you sign a power of attorney, it then has to be registered before it can take effect. When the attorney (the niece, in this case) comes to register the POA as part of the resgistering process they have to tell the donor (the aunt) and i think two or three other relatives that they are doing so, in writing, to give anyone a chance to object. If that was done fraudulently it would not be legal and then she may have some comeback.

Collaborate - sorry but Lasting Powers of Attorney can be registered as soon as made and does not need the donor to be mentally incapacitated before registration or use. LPAs are actually usually registered when first drafted as any errors preventing registration can only usually be rectified whilst the donor is mentally able.

Mrs - unfortunately what happened to your mother's friend is very plausible. If it was a registered LPA then the niece had the authority to act. Unfortunately, however, she has thoroughly abused her position of trust. It should definitely be reported to the police and the OPG

Apologies. I stand corrected (damn good these orthopaedic shoes).

My DSis and I have POA for DM, who is most definitely not mentally incapacitated. Not even in a little way.

I hold a POA for an elderly relative and I could indeed do all of those things. I can walk in to a bank and clear out her accounts, buy or sell property in her name, anything (not that I would!). You have to be very careful who you trust with your POA. I'm not sure of the legalities in the UK as I'm from overseas, but we have the Office of the Public Advocate who will investigate if there has been wrongdoing, I'm sure the UK has a similar body. The first thing that she needs to do is to revoke the POA though and over here the next step would be to ask for the accounts to be audited.

I'm in Australia, so a bit different, but I draft Powers of Attorney as part of my job (lawyer).

Yes, this is plausible. Unfortunately.

Are you sure the money didn't go towards the Aunt's care?

If she has used her Aunt's money on herself then the office of the public guardian can investigate.

Entirely plausible, and as the niece has emigrated to Canada I don't know what could even be done at this stage to try to recover any funds.

Although my brother and I trust each other, this is the reason that our mother's POA was drawn up as a joint POA, meaning that both Brother and I must take any actions jointly and when we sold our mother's home, both of us had to sign all the sale documents.

POA is very difficult. My father has given POA to his (very rich) younger retired brother as he thinks his brother has the fewest vested interests of all possible candidates. He's probably right!

I have no advice but wondered if there is anything that someone who has been a victim of this sort of abuse of PoA can do? Would the authorities agree that they have been defrauded/robbed or shrug their shoulders and say that the person who has PoA can do what s/he wants even if it is clearly against the victim's wishes/best interests?

All of my Mum's friend's care was on the NHS. My Mum says she is distraught but doesn't want to try and get the money back through the legal route - I guess as she is old, she doesn't want the stress of it all. My Mum said all that she really wants back are family photos and her address book, both gone for ever, in some skip, presumably.

I have POA for my father who has dementia. I keep a log of all expenditure on his behalf. POAs can be audited if anyone suspects fraud. Maybe someone should contact the Office of the public Guardian and also the police, so the money can be found.
Either the niece has effectively stolen the money and should be pursued through the courts (not necessarily by the old lady herself, although it would be helpful if someone close to her got involved) or there is more to the story than your mother has been told.