The bank will not acknowledge my POA. What can I do?

Banks do no have to except poa infact there is no law that anyone has to except poa, you need to look into the difference between the diff poa, a dupoa is the highest, do your reaearch

The bank must accept the POA. Ask to speak to the manager and keep going up until you get someone who knows the law. Guardianship is $5000-$10,000. The benefit to getting POAs and health care proxies while the person is still competent is that you don't have to waste your time (A LOT OF TIME) and money on guardianship.

As for being "prosecuted" for forgery, in order for that to happen, someone would have to care and bring it to the attention of the authorities. Not likely to happen in our busy world.

re the VA, yes, they will only accept their own POA; I had to get the form from them and again, have my cousin's help to get my dad to sign it, since by then he didn't have a clue - though not sure he really would have ever had; he just didn't understand all these forms; way before then we ran into that with the means test form that they'd somehow duplicated/doubled/doubling his income somehow but that was separate from the fiduciary responsibility over his pension/Aid & Attendance for paying his grandson to be his caregiver, which has led to some issues since his passing, but which came after the doctor he had in the hospital did draw up a letter stating he was incapable that I took to the VA to have put in his medical records, though sometimes I wonder why, since it just led to that. but, rich, sure don't understand SS notifying your bank and certainly don't understand bank closing the account; of course I don't your dates; dad had already gotten his check for the month he passed, which I learned later is considered retroactive so was really for the month before so no problem with that one and then was early enough that I think they then just didn't send the next one and he had more than that in his account too is maybe why they couldn't just close it, more than the check to be sent back, but can I ask then why you were trying to sign into his account anyway, if that was the case? I did have issues with the grandson as caregiver that I did end up using the funds dad did have in his account - forgetting about a withdrawal I'd made earlier to pay the clergy for his funeral - or at least give them their donation - they really didn't actually charge at all, it wasn't even a suggested donation, there was no mention of money by them at all, now the funeral home brought it up - maybe that should be part of pre-pay plans as well. I'm also so glad someone had the bank caught his other, not checking, account after I'd had the POA filed and made it POD, payable on death, so I could still access it immediately after he died, even though I was executor, because that would still have taken some time

The old Government runaround, I am experiencing the same thing with the Veterans Administration been waiting 2 years for a pension decision. Wonder why peoples programs are not expedited by these agencies and have caused some of our members such heartburn. Anyway good advice from all and we do appreciate the guidance of many.

From reading the answers here, it varies from state to state apparently on whether or not a DPOA has to be filed. In Michigan it does not. Whenever I have a meeting with anyone concerning my folks finances, I take copies of the DPOA with me to give to whomever I am seeing. I do NOT give them the original, which I have with me and they can see. I had an experience with one bank where they did not want to return the original to me. So I would strongly recommend that you not give the original to anyone so they can make a copy.

A DPOA is a notarized document that must be signed by the elder in front of the notary public, where the elder presents a valid photo ID.

This financial situation happens more frequent than most people are aware. I must say I agree with parts of each answer so far. What the State Laws require may have a great deal to resolve this matter.

When you are first looking at a POA (for financial purposes) make sure your lawyer is totally aware of the laws in your state.

Please be sure your POA is for financial and not health purposes. This also happens a large portion of the time, a POA for health care and the custodian unaware of the limitations of this POA.

Most importantly, if the person is receiving any state or federal financial aid (most are), there is another card you can play. You can ask for legal help from these players.

Be sure that all next of kin are in agreement regarding you having this information. Thus. there is a untied front which means a lot to the financial institution.

This gives you some information which may help. And you can always go to www.justiceinaging.com for more direct help. This a federal network representing low income seniors. There are lawyers with this group and they can help in most every state, as there is a representative within each state bringing information to them.

I hope this will help.

My mothers SS# was stolen and used to file taxes with which generated a refund for the thief. The IRS realized that they paid out a refund the garnished my mothers SS check. I worked with the IRS identity fraud office, faxed POA paperwork allowing them to clear up the problem. Now they tell me that My mother has to file to back tax paperwork that I was told by the IRS was not needed to be filed for the year 2013 and to fill out a form 2848 along with proof that I am her POA. I need them to see that I am the POA n order to ask for an extension to file. They already have the information, I faxed it in Oct. with the IRS person waiting by the fax machine to receive it. That was how the fraud problem was cleared up! I am my mothers SS payee a different set of hoops to jump through, I am my mothers Fiduciary for the VA a different set of hoops again, and POA and medical POA for doctors and hospitals. So this afternoon I will wait on the phone in the cue for hopefully only an hour or so until I can get my husband on the other line to fax the paperwork while I am on the phone with the IRS person! They don't make it easy!

thankfully I didn't have that problem, all I had to do was supply the bank with a copy of the POA (twice) because some dummy either forgot to log them into their computer, but I told them I was only providing it one last time. I would have my mother close out their account (my dad in NH) but my fathers SS goes into that account and the only way to have that changed is to have my dad sign a paper and he is NOT capable of doing that. so until his time has come to pass, then I will provide a copy of death cert and have closed out. good luck

For the record, my mom's bank had all of the documents and still refused to acknowledge the POA. The hospital, yes; the bank, no.

If your mother signed a DURABLE power of attorney when she was capable, and her signature was notarized at the time, the "durability" means that it continues to be effective even when she has lost the capacity to sign documents. IF this is the case, suggest that the bank clerk send the document to THEIR legal department for review. Many times tellers are just following their instruction book which says, "Give Form 7 to customer for signature." You should not have to hire an attorney to make the bank follow the law.

What this question highlights is the need to have all legal documents deposited in the public record (look it up how to do online or call an attorney) with the dept of records early on in the process. A simple process that an elder law attorney can help with.
Any attorney worth his/her salt will do a phone consult without $$ if the conversation is short and to the point. Call your local Bar Association for names of such lawyers.
Make certain the POA is in the medical records of your doctor's office.Take it to an appointment and have staff make a copy and then ask to have it in the record. You might need to call the medical records dept. in the next few days to be certain that it has been done. Follow up is important.

Further to my responses bank managers have bosses in local zone offices. If that manager is playing hardball go above his head. Community Banks have Board of Directors go fight with them on the issue.

That answer is to easy, see an attorney. We at least I am trying to reasonably respond on short cuts that caregivers can take to avoid legal expense which is not cheap.

If your POA is Durable and dated prior to her date of incapacity, the bank must acknowledge your POA. I had my mother sign a Durable POA that specifically stated my duties as to get handling her finances and even the mail. Medicare and social security accepted the POA but the VA wouldn't. I had to apply for fiduciary responsibility over my mother and her finances pertaining to the VA. When she did pass, social security notified the bank before I could and the bank closed the account.and sent the money requested from the Treasury Department and I found out when I tried to sign into the account. I flipped my lid. However, when your mom dies, so does the POA. Unless you are the executor or administrative person on her will, you are out of luck.

See an attorney!

Simple solution get a notarized copy from for the nurse and the Hospice Administrator. That should more than suffice.

the POA addresses financial issues.
the DPOA addresses healthcare issues.

Most people don't know that there is POA and DPOA (durable). It's also interesting that no siblings or spouses need be aware when a person/parent signs a POA/DPOA for any/one/or none of them.

If your mom has already signed you need to file it with the courts its like 25dollars they will then take and put a sticker on it with a file number ect, this is what i had to do for the bank, you also need to make sure when she signed it was infront of a notary and make sure it say banks accounts as well, if she is still able to sign i would get a durable unlimted poa its does not exspire when she becomes incapacitated like a reg poa and i would do a health care poa as well, this will allow you to help with decisions on her care if ahe bwcomes incapacitated meaning unable to make her own dedecisions

very important topic!!

It does not help you now, but the easiest thing to do, earlier on, is make it a joint account in yours and your loved ones name. If you are paying their bills, as i did, it is a logical and easy solution. This was, in my case, done over the phone.

Padeeba, thanks for sharing your method of dealing with a bank with anti-customer standards. It's really an offensive bank, and has been for years, well before the 2008 financial crisis.

I'm going to use your technique if I ever have problems with a bank, although I dumped BofA for checking accounts years ago.

Had the same problem with Bank of America. Short of hiring an atty here's what I did. Raised h*ll with the bank manager of that branch. I have POA signed and notarised, proceeds to be used by me to pay mother's bills. However, I cannot get the funds to pay the bills for the ever loving bank putting a halt on withdrawals. Bank Manager, please understand what a POA is, and if you don't I'll explain it to you, again. And no, I'm not leaving your office. and Yes, you can and I wish you would, call security. Then I will phone the police and we all can have a nice little meeting. With the newspaper reporter also to put this story on the front page of the local paper. Meanwhile, ahem, let's get back to the definition of a POA.

Oh yes, they changed their computer to show me as a legal person to withdraw funds; however, you knew this was coming right? the computer failed to update the other computers so EVERY time I went to the bank I had another opportunity to sit down with the bank manager who had forgotten me and we started the process all over again. But I am relentless and persistent. I can out do them all. So patient person that I am would go in during the busy rush time on Friday afternoons when businesses bring in their money for deposits and they take a l-o-n-g time with the teller. and folks are getting payroll checks cashed, etc. etc. and the place is a zoo. That's when I walk in and refuse to leave the manager's office until he gives me the temporary go ahead to withdraw funds. Mean aren't I?

What I had to do for my mom's POA (in NJ) was to go to her lawyer who then produced a document for the bank stating that the original POA was still in full effect and had never been revised or revoked.

I ran into the same problem with my bank.
I simply went to a different branch of the same bank & they accepted my POA on my husband. Now my X husband & I am so grateful he is no longer my problem...

My uncle was on hospice and there was never a doctor who came out to make visits to check on my uncles health just a RN. So how could the DPOA get a letter stating that my uncle has dementia ?

When a bank puts a hold on an account their computer will not allow any movement from that bank to another. The bank is only offering their client legal protection that can only be resolved by a court order to minimize their liability.

I ran into this same problem with Wells Fargo. So I went to UPS who simply notarized the document (or whatever waiver they have) and changed banks. All the UPS people are doing is notarizing the signature, not the mental capability of the signer. Can your mother at least sign her name? Try that.

Prior to her dementia did she sign any other documents relating to the usual medical determinations as a proof that you have had a prior decision making role. With the doctors proof of incompetence you should apply for a court order declaring her incompetent and be appointed her legal guardian.