Was POA granted illegally

[Venice]

My sister was POA to my father. He has since passed. I am now the Administratrix of his estate. There are thousands of dollars missing from his account as well as unaccounted for assets. I recently was given a Physician's Evaluation/Conservatorship Report which was dated 8/31/10 and stated that my father was unable to make sound judgements and was unable to manage his finances. The POA is dated 9/8/10. Do I have any legal recourse since 1) my father didn't choose my sister to be POA, she self appointed herself his POA and 2) at the time the POA was executed he was already severely impaired and suffering from moderate to severe Vascular Dementia therefore he was unaware of what was going on or what he was doing.

Thank you for any advice you may have.

 

[disagreeable]

The probate court should be able to lodge an embezzlement complaint against her and require her to provide proof of where the assets went.

 

[mightymoose]

Did the money go missing before or after his death? I believe the POA is useless after he died and any withdrawals would be inappropriate.
You will have a bit of a mess sorting out whether dad knowingly and willfully gave POA. There should be a witness on record for it.

 

[Venice]

Thank you. I will contact the Probate Court.

 

[Venice]

The money and assets went missing while he was alive. My sister took my father for the psychiatric evaluation. She was well aware of his incapacitated mental state. My father didn't choose her as his POA. She self appointed herself and went to a lawyer she knew to execute it. Based on the document filed by the psychiatrist it appears the Probate Court should have been petitioned for a conservatorship and not a lawyer to draw up a POA. The POA was witnessed by someone, signed by the attorney and recorded. The POA states, "Personally appeared before me (father's name) signer and sealer of the foregoing instrument who acknowledged the same to be of his free act and deed before me (date)." The psychiatric evaluation clearly contradicts that my father knew what was occurring that day.

 

[Betty3]

Get a lawyer and/or notify the probate court of all of the above.