If our brother obtained a POA for our mother and sold the homestead without our knowledge, do we have any legal recourse?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
If our brother obtained a POA for our mother and sold the homestead without our knowledge, do we have any legal recourse?
My sister and I have just learned that our brother obtained a POA from our mother who has Alzheimers. He has sold the family homestead and moved all of the contents that weren’t sold to a warehouse. Our mother’s monthly income has been enough for her to live comfortably since our father’s death 34 years ago. My sister is the executor of her Will and that would have been our inheritance. Do we have any legal recourse since this was all accomplished without our knowledge?
Asked on August 22, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Florida
Answers:
Catherine Blackburn / Blackburn Law Firm
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
You very well may have recourse. A POA allows the Attorney-in-Fact (in this case, your brother) to act ON BEHALF OF THE PRINCIPAL - i.e., your mother. It does NOT give the Attorney-in-Fact permission to use the Principal's property for his own benefit. It sounds like your mother intended for you and your sister to inherit this property and your brother took it for himself. If that is true, he could be held liable for breach of fiduciary duty, civil theft, unjust enrichment, and other causes of action. If he took advantage of your mother's Alzheimer's disease to obtain the POA, the POA could be invalidated for undue influence or lack of capacity and your brother could be liable for exploitation of the elderly. I encourage you to speak with an attorney soon.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.