NYT: “Ubiquity of Powers of Attorney Has Led to Fears of Fraud”
The New York Times uses the history of one family’s struggle to demonstrate growing concern on the part of banks and other financial institutions about potential misuse of popular documents such as powers of attorney or trusts to access accounts. In “Power of Attorney Is Not Always the Solution,” writer Paul Sullivan tells the story of “Carol” and her brother, now suffering from dementia, who years before had named his sister as his agent:
“[W]hen she looked at the power of attorney, she noticed that he had used her legal first name, Carol, which she had all but abandoned in childhood, not the middle name she had used instead.
She didn’t think much of it until she went to the first of the many banks he used. She presented the power of attorney, explained the situation and waited. Instead of getting access to his accounts to pay for his care, she was told the bank would not honor her power of attorney because the name was wrong….
She said she has lost countless hours from work and her own family sorting out payment for his care. After supplying a pile of documents, the two that seemed to have helped were an affidavit from her brother’s lawyer saying that Christine is the person he wanted to have control over this affairs and a document from the Social Security Administration that was the missing link for the various iterations of her name.
She has been able to move some of his assets into a trust for his care, yet she remains baffled by a process that is far from over. ‘It’s insane,’ she said. ‘He was all buttoned up with all the documents you needed. But he could outlive me, which is going to be interesting. Then what happens?'”
Hat tip to to Prof. Laurel Terry, and her early morning practice of reading the New York Times, for alerting us to this piece!