Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Canada

Power of attorney

I live in Ontario along with one other sibling. My mother whom is 95 yrs old resides in a retirement home in Alberta. My neice whom has power of attorney for my mother also lives in Alberta. Recently she has asked for financial support for my mother from us in Ontario. It is our belief that there should be adequate funds in my mothers accounts to look after these matters, and because my neice refuses to let us peruse the books we suspect there could be fiduciary irresponsibility on her part. Is there anyway of having her disclose financial records to us, without involving my mother whom is of sound judgement, however very naive about financial matters?


Asked on 4/13/04, 9:35 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Robert Maguire Maguire & Company

Re: Power of attorney

It is unlikely there is any practical way of compelling your sibling to disclose without involving your mother. One of the simplest ways might be to alert the Public Trustee. However, once the Public Trustee is involved you might never get them 'uninvolved'. You could commence a Court action alleging 'breach of trust' or 'breach of fiduciary duty' but these are very serious allegations if you don't have any cogent evidence at the moment. Quite frankly, if your mother does not want her financial affairs disclosed to you, your sibling who has power of attorney should NOT be disclosing the information to you.

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Answered on 4/20/04, 12:49 pm


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