My sister and I have a power of attorney for my mother who has dementia. It states "jointly". The banks have advised us they will not honor because it says "jointly". We need to take control over my mom's finances and are not able to. Mom has refused to go to the bank and put us on her accounts. We can't get her to change the power of attorney. What can we do?
We had the POA redrafted, so that we now serve “independently”. I’m in charge of visiting, medical issues and care, purchasing for her, paying her bills, managing most of her finances, decorating for her comfort at the AL, and her chocolate.
The “other” POA is in charge of whining about how hard this all is, complaining about decisions I make, visiting once a week (when convenient for her), complaining about how I
“spend LO’s money”, harassing her very caring staff, and planning to move 2,000 miles away.
All balances out, LOL.
For example, my mom's POA to me clearly stated it was in effect immediately. I had her power of attorney to act on her behalf as soon as she signed it and it was notarized.
Many POAs (like mine) states my designated person does not have the power to act on my behalf unless I am "mentally incompetent as attested to by a physician or otherwise incapacitated." In other words, he has a copy of the POA but he can not implement it unless/until I'm incompetent per a doctor.
As tacy022 said, each bank has its own POA paperwork. Please check with the BOA and WF for theirs.
Hopefully your mom will eventually change the POA and/add you two to her accounts so it's easy for you and your sister. You don't need any more hassle.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/10/health/finding-out-your-power-of-attorney-is-powerless.html
You don't need to have your mom to go to the bank to put you on her accounts. It's really easy to do it from home now. Do it all online. That makes it super easy for her. Set it all up and just have her give approval by pushing a button.
If you have everything legally to implement the POA, and your mother refuses to complete another POA that satisfies the bank, then I'd would do all Mom's banking online. As needtowashair stated earlier, I'd do this all online. If the POA is implemented, you don't need your mother's approval.
Go to the bank's online site and register, well, you must have the account numbers. I hope you do.