From our “Ask a Question” Mailbag: Lehigh County Power of Attorney Account Upon Request

Most Recently Updated July 21, 2018.

“My dad named me his power of attorney. For many years I helped pay his bills and care for him. After years of in-house care and then a nursing home in Lehigh County, all his money was gone except one small account which we both split. My brother thinks I stole the money, but that is not true. He has served me a citation to account for my actions under the power of attorney, what do I do now?”

Lehigh County Power of Attorney Account Upon Request

By accepting the position of agent through your father’s Power of Attorney, you became a fiduciary. As a fiduciary, you owed your father a duty to look out for his interests. But that job also comes with the obligation to explain your actions as agent to certain people.

Who can ask for an account?

An interested party can ask for you to account for all the actions you took as the agent. During his life, this could have been your father. Now that your father has died, your brother (as the heir to half his estate) has the right to ask for a power of attorney accounting from you because if it is found that you took any money, half of anything recovered will go to him.

Don’t take this process lightly, as the Lehigh Orphans’ Court judges will review your accounting and your brother will have the right to object to all your entries. I suggest that you have an experienced Lehigh probate lawyer help you assemble the accounting and that you have a firm with a litigator familiar with Orphans’ Court litigation, as it sounds like your brother will want his day in court.

Further Estate Litigation Questions?

The power of attorney account is only one of many Estate Litigation issues our firm addresses. Consequently, if you want to learn more, please read my more detailed article, Trust and Estate Litigation All You Need to Know.

In Conclusion: Lehigh County Power of Attorney Account Upon Request

I hope that this article was helpful in explaining the power of attorney account. Further, I included links to even more detailed information on my website. Therefore, please contact me and let me know how I did. Certainly, your comments and questions are welcome!

Let our Litigation Lawyers help walk you through what can be a confusing process. To begin with, call to speak to one of our experienced Litigation Attorneys.  By all means, our lawyers are ready to answer your questions. In fact, feel free to contact our office for a free consultation. Ultimately our goal is to put our 25 years of estate litigation experience to work for you.

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Tags: Duties and Responsibilities, Estate Litigation, Estate Litigation Attorney, Estate Litigation Lawyer, Lehigh County, Litigation, Pennsylvania, Power of Attorney