Mom who is 89 years old and I have lived together in her house for over 20 years. A lot has changed as far as the amount of care she requires. My sister lives 25 miles away has POA of financial and medical but unfortunately she is unavailable and has not visited or called my Mom in over a year. Six months ago during an ice storm my Mom's house was severely damaged and at every turn contractor's are needing the signiture of the person who has POA. She screens her calls and rarely calls me back. It has become an issue and complicating the repair process. Mom asked her many times for a copy of her paperwork because she wants to revoke POA. My sister refuses to even let her see them. Mom can't do anything without knowing what is currently in place. How does she go about getting her documents ?
I think you can just take mom to a lawyer and create a new POA, stating that she is revoking all priors.
It certainly works that way with wills.
Facts: an ice storm damaged the residence, contractors have apparently been retained and/or performed work, but your sister as your mother's proxy has failed (or refused??) to sign the necessary paperwork.
This interferes with and hampers the attempts to make needed repairs, thus perhaps creating dangers and/or hazards for a proper living space. This could cause an unsafe living environment for your mother. And it could cause building violations by the local governmental authority.
This is NOT consistent with proper fiduciary management. To me, this is a failure of a proxy to act in a proper capacity to ensure safe housing, proper maintenance of the principal's residence, and is grounds for reversal of, and elimination of, that individual's role.
This is a matter best handled by an attorney, especially if the "failure and/or neglect to perform" issues of the enabling (D?)POA are cited.
An ancillary issue is whether or not the home is being degraded by the lack of repairs, to the point that it may not be suitable for habitation, and might be condemned by the local governmental agency, forcing more drastic action to maintain or abandon the house.
This also would obviously degrade the value of your mother's investment in the home, thus affecting her level of wealth, and perhaps jeopardizing her future needs for residence. I think this degradation is a serious issue in terms of your mother's current and future needs.
If this angle is pursued to remove your sister of her authority, I would definitely have an elder law or estate planning attorney with experience in this area handle preparation of a new POA. The attorney may also want to consider referring your sister to the proper authorities for analysis of potential neglect issues.
And others are right: in my experience, a DPOA or POA prepared by attorneys for whom I was working included in the preamble a statement that "any and all previous DPOAs or POAs are hereby revoked."
The attorney could then notify your sister in writing, by certified mail, that her authority has been revoked and "extinguished" (legal term).
If she really can't make her own decisions and is deemed incapacitated because of the stage of her disease, then she won't be able to replace the existing document, and you would have to seek guardianship.
If your mom is coherent and understands what is going on her POAs should not even be active. They are not intended to put someone in control of a functioning person.
Is your sister withholding moms money? Is she allowing the house to further degrade by not releasing moms money? If yes, you really need to get mom to a certified elder law attorney pronto. www.nelf.org is the place to find one near you.
1. Your profile states: "I am caring for my mother Florence, who is 89 years old, living at home with age-related decline, alzheimer's / dementia, and hearing loss." Does she have an official diagnosis? If so, how long ago was it made? How advanced is her Alzheimer's/dementia?
2. How long ago did your sister draw up these documents? Why would your mother give your sister POA when you are the one living with and caring for her?
3. Is your mother certain she actually signed these papers? If so, who were the witnesses?
Even if your sister does have legal authority, she is certainly not acting in good faith and in the best interests of your mother. Your mother certainly does need to see an attorney to get new POAs drawn up. Attorneys are used to determining whether or not their client has capacity. However, if an attorney finds that she lacks capacity then you need to file for guardianship so that your sister cannot do any further harm to your mother.
If Mom is in early stages of a Dementia and there is no formal diagnosis, she can sign her own papers. POAs are either immediate (in effect as soon as the Principle signs them) or Springing (when there is a formal diagnosis of a Dementia). So if Mom can still make informed decisions, Sister is not in charge. POAs are tools not control.
See the lawyer that drew up the POA. (If he is no longer available find another one) He should speak to Mom privately to see if she is being coerced and is able to understand what she is doing. If he finds she is able to revolk the POA, then she can do it then. If not, the only way you can override Sis is to get guardianship over Mom.
As said, Mom doesn't need a copy of the POA. A new one will say its replacing the old one.