Will your POA work?

[kaneohe]

I thought having a Power of Attorney would work but I am finding out
that many (most??) institutions either want you to fill out their own forms
or else require that both parties fill out a supplemental form(theirs) that certifies that the POA is valid, has not been amended, has the required powers,etc (mainly, I think, to absolve them of blame in case anything goes wrong). If you do this while both parties are present and ok, I guess you're ok but if not, there might be problems when you try to use the POA.
You might want to check if yours would work w/ several institutions that
you care about.

[WM]

I had a situation a few years ago when DH was deployed and I needed to use a POA for something. I had a generic one from the military that I thought wasn't that great, and a more thorough one specifying exactly what powers I had, including one that covered what I was trying to do (refinance the house, I think).

The people at the bank initially balked at the thorough one, saying they weren't familiar with it. After further review, they accepted it, but I had a strong feeling that if I'd come in with the very basic one they'd have been fine with it, because they deal with a lot of military families and probably see that one a lot. It does make you wonder what the point is, if institutions are free to recognize them or not.

[Brat]

A POA from my Mother wasn't accepted by IRS, or at least they wanted to cause issues. I told them they were welcome to meet with my infirm Mother at the nursing home at their convenience. They didn't bother to do that.

[Sarah in SC]

Banks and brokerages will require you to use their forms. One good idea is to consolidate all of the accounts into one place (like Fido or Schwab) at the same time, to save on paperwork.

Standard practice at Schwab to do it this way.

[Martha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brat A POA from my Mother wasn't accepted by IRS, or at least they wanted to cause issues. I told them they were welcome to meet with my infirm Mother at the nursing home at their convenience. They didn't bother to do that.

They want you to use their form. PITA.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martha They want you to use their form. PITA.

Yep. We have the same issue with the IRS regarding my FIL. Sent us a letter saying they would not accept DW's signature on his 2008 tax return using the POA form (had FIL's signature on it) she attached to the return, they had to have their POA form. FIL can't write or speak after suffering a stroke, so DW filled out the IRS POA (PITA) form, signed it for him using her POA, attached a copy and returned it. Also sent a note saying essentially what Brat said. Haven't heard anything since.

[Bimmerbill]

Interesting. And worrisome. I have POA for me and DW written up by the JAG last time they were in town doing wills and POAs.

[Orchidflower]

Ugh..I have had to run over to the Drs. many times to pick up a letter stating my mother has a physical disability that prevents her from taking care of her own affairs--after I have sent them the signed and notarized POA. Wells Fargo told me that this is common when they deal with POA's. You can't win, so just get the inquiring party the @#$&! letter from the Dr. and forget about it. And EVERY bank or physician I have dealt with wants a copy of it.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower You can't win, so just get the inquiring party the @#$&! letter from the Dr. and forget about it. And EVERY bank or physician I have dealt with wants a copy of it.

I've been told that the majority of these are signed in the parking lots outside the requesting institution...

[Brat]

The issue I had with the IRS is that their POA has a limited term - three years if I recall. When your Mother is dying slowly from Parkinson's this renewal two step doesn't work well. It didn't get beyond a call or two after I suggested we get together at Mom's care facility.

What did happen, eventually, it that they gave me a POA ID account. Later this ID became associated with another taxpayer and they sent ME notices about his issues. I contacted the IRS (calls and letter) but the letters kept comming. Thanks to the internet I found the taxpayer and told him what was happening. He was not a happy camper and said his attorney was dealing with his issues with them, he would add this to the list. The letters stopped for about a year. When they started comming again I gathered them up and walked into a taxpayer service center. If the agent had false teeth he would have lost them when I laid the communications out. He made several calls, accepted the material, and expressed appreciation that I hadn't contacted the taxpayer. The letters stopped.

[wolf]

Kanohe:

It's me, I've gone through this hassel so many times. Your own personal POA is not accepted by most banks/credit unions. They want you to use their "in house" POA paperwork.

It helps if the credit union /bank you work with knows you personally. IN my case (Addison). Then they still want you to use their own "in house" POA, but many times they will allow you to just " bring back the signed in house paperwork" back to them.

AS mentioned previously, you just "do the paperwork in the parking lot".

The all system is nuts, because the reason you have the POA, is becasue the person is incapciated.

go figure,,,,

[Brat]

Lots of POA issues can be prevented by a revocable living trust.

[kaneohe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brat Lots of POA issues can be prevented by a revocable living trust.

Perhaps........there is the disability issue but also the acting alone situation. I have an ancient RLT that needs to be updated but I've been operating under it for many yrs. Maybe it's just my fading memory or maybe certain institutions actually read the 3 pg trust summary you often have to provide.......but recently a few told me I would need 2 signatures to make a check written on the account valid. Indignant at first, upon re-reading the trust, I did find that each TTEE could act individually on their separate property, but both were needed to act on property owned together..........
so it probably depends on the situation and how the trust is worded. I would guess that the RLT would provide for 1 TTEE in the event of disability but acting alone if no disability

In my case, perhaps what happened is that I ran into issues w/ the ones I used most often and then got institution-specific POAs for those. Then memory faded and then I got in trouble
with new institutions and old institutions trying to do certain things .......apparently they allow certain things but not others when acting alone.