Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Illinois

Power of Attorney
I am not certain of the correct area of law for this question, so I selected General Civil Litigation. I am in need of an attorney who can write a Power of Attorney form which would allow me to act on behalf of my wife in the operation of a rental property we own. She purchased a condo prior to our mariage and the board of directors and management company indicate they are not obligated to honor Power of Attorney forms. They insist that only owners whose name is on the title can be involved in meetings, submit requests, etc. My wife wants me to deal with these matters, so we did create and signed a Power of Attorney form that the board rejected. (I started an investigation into housing descrimination and I believe they did not appreciate that). We were told there are some state laws with allow a board of directors to reject any specific individual as Power of Attorney, therefore we are in need of an attorney who is knowledgeable in the laws of condo associations and who can submit a sin=gned form to the association on our behalf.

Asked on 4/01/09, 5:27 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Paul Fine

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Re: Power of Attorney

That's BS. The Illinois Condominium Property Act governs certain aspects of condo ownership and rights. The Act, at least in terms of board elections themselves, allows voting by proxy. I am unaware of anything that would then allow a board or management company to bar a legally married spouse from making day to day requests for maintenance, etc. Let them show you any text in their declarations or bylaws that explicitly state that you, as the legally married spouse of an owner have no such rights. If your wife died or became disabled, would they still deny you the right to make requests?

If you have a bona fide power of attorney, and they cannot show you exact language that supports their position, you can always bring a lawsuit against the board to force compliance.

The Law Office of Paul R. Fine, P.C.

Chicago, IL

[email protected]

[Note this information does not constitute legal advice nor any agreement to provide such services and that no attorney-client relationship yet exists between the author and any party.]

Answered on 4/01/09, 6:24 pm

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