Florida | Elder Law
Legal Question
power-of-attorney abuse
I have an 88 year old stepmother,
with Alzheimer's, who is living in an
apartment in Palm Beach, Florida.
She also has another apartment in
Manhattan that is worth in excess of
a million dollars. Last year, (Dec
2007) she appointed the son of a life
long friend as her power of attorney.
In Sept, 2007 (3 months prior to the
appointment) she had given him and
his family permission to live in the
Manhattan apartment because he
was in poor financial straits. She was
going to permanently live in Palm
Beach. Now after being her power of
attorney for a little more than a year
he is asking her to give (gift) him
ownership of the apartment. She has
said no to this, but I fear that he will
continue to apply pressure. In
addition he also wants her to pay for
his son's tuition in a Manhattan
private school.
Are the actions that he has taken
an abuse of his power of attorney
duties? Since he has been charged
with overseeing her financial
business, it seems unethical to me
that he is helping himself to the
assets. Do I need to seek counsel to
protect her?
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