I had POA with my dad for 6 years, at that time he had been dignosed with light demenita and diabetes ( which he has had for 40 years) and also Parkinson's for that time as well... in the last year he fell and broke his hip and was in the hospital 6 weeks which I was there ever day. When he came home he had a UTI for 10 months after that, which would not go away with antibotics finally we had a proceedure called a turp, and gradually the UTI was cleared. At that time I hired a caregiver who in 6 months gave my dad a phone number to a attorney and then he changed the POA to my sister, it has gotten worse as my dad will not talk to me as I have said it was not the care givers place to give him a phone number and plus I was told he needed a compentancy test by 2 doctors and not just given to him in the attorneys office, as he was 92 at the time. Its been a downhill battle moving forward, the caregiver does not let me talk or see my dad, as well as my sister will not talk to me either. My question is it legal for a caregiver to give the patient a phone number for a arrorney to change his paperwork, when I hired her as the POA, Along with coming off of a 10 month UTI, Demita and Parkenson's, and diabetes in play. My dad is 94 and I feel making bad decisions and my sister just keeps going along with my dads wishes, whatever they are. Again is it legal for the caregiver hired by me as POA to give my dad a phone number to change important paper work? What are my rights moving forward?
Your Dad could have asked her to get him a number. Your Dad could be saying he does not want to see you or talk to you. Your Dad, unless diagnosed as incompetent to handle his own affairs, can revolk your POA and assign another. Have you seen the new POA? Have you received in writing that your POA has been revolked. How was Dad able to get to the lawyers and sign in front of witnesses and a notary?
I don't think you have any legal grounds against the aide. The only way ur going to get around this is file for guardianship. You will need to prove that Dad is incompetent. They will have to prove he is not. In the meantime, call Adult Protection Services and ask if they can do a well visit. Just tell them that the aide is refusing to let u talk or see Dad. That you have been told ur no longer POA but have received nothing from a lawyer that ur POA has been revolked.
(Perhaps I misunderstood.)
If the lawyer examined your father in the office then he is the one to determine if your father understood his reasons for creating your sister his POA. There is no requirement that 2 physicians say your father is competent. In fact, in order to prevent your father changing his POA then you would need two physicians to say that your father is INcompetent to prevent his changing his POA.
If you feel that your father is incompetent to make this decision you can go to court with a lawyer to get conservatorship over him; however you will need, as said above, a diagnosis and two physicians saying that your father is incompetent and requires a conservator. If your father fights your having conservatorship in court he will be supplied a lawyer by the court. If you lose the case then you will be paying all costs, which in a fight may exceed 10,000.00.
All in all I would withdraw as POA and allow the sister. If you feel that she is doing anything illegal as regards your father, his placement or his finances you can request APS to investigate. You are free to tell your sister that, as current fiduciary she has fiduciary responsibility to keep meticulous expenditures regarding your father's finances, as I am certain YOU have also done (and feel free to assist her and make copies of your own records if you are so moved).
First, any POA or DPOA needs to be changed, updated, or rescinded only in writing, and it should be done by an attorney. Phone conversations are not a valid way to change documents.
Second, I couldn't accurately guess whether the caregiver did this intentionally, or had if she no idea how documents are correctly changed. So I think it might be a reach to consider that it may be legal or not, unless there's proof she was in league with the recommended attorney and was getting kickbacks.
She may just have been trying to be helpful, while also having a lack of knowledge.
Third, as to your rights, the original POA is still valid. The changed one is not.
But, b/c of the inappropriate and not legal "change", I would consider raising the issue with the attorney who drafted the presumably legal document and ask if it needs to be updated to specifically exclude the not legal document.
Was your PoA authority legally in play at the time? In other words, what does your PoA paper say: is it springing (requiring proof of incapacity) or durable (no proof needed)? It is legal if your dad didn't have a diagnosis of incapacity/impairment at the time and he actually DID create a new PoA. But I'm not sure how he was able to do this without having new paperwork drawn up, and signed with witnesses in front of a notary. Ask him to show you his copy of the document -- he should have gotten an original from the attorney, as well as an original given to the new PoA.