How can I, as POA, cash my mother's savings bond if she cannot be taken to the bank?

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How can I, as POA, cash my mother's savings bond if she cannot be taken to the bank?

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My mother is currently in a personal care home and will most likely be moved to a more secure facility (and more expensive) in the next few months. She has a savings bond that I would like to cash to help bridge the gap between her current monthly income and the fee at the Memory Care Facility. Her bank will not cash it for me, even though I'm power of attorney and she cannot be taken to the bank. They suggest sending it to the Treasury Dept. I've only found forms online if she were deceased. Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks!

Financial Planning

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I'm sorry Dontask4handout, but that is the whole point of appointing a POA, having someone who has the absolute authority to act on your behalf in all financial matters. If there is no one in your family or among your acquaintances who is trustworthy then there are professionals who can perform the task, for a fee of course.
I should add, when I was selling my mother's property and moving around large sums the bank did ask for a newly notarized copy of mom's POA which was understandably prudent.

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I have also had problems getting a bank to honor my dad's POA. They insisted that he sign their forms. I tried to explain that my dad has dementia and he wouldn't know what he was signing if I brought him into the bank. They still wouldn't except the POA prepared by his attorney (small town, everyone knows my dad and the attorney, big bank bought out local community bank). I decided to be a bit dramatic, so I carried my dad, in wheelchair, into the bank. i couldn't believe it, but they allowed him to sign their form with just a mark - looked like a sideways 'S'. He had no understanding of what he was signing and I made a point of that in front of several bank employees by asking him questions about it. Two customers who witnessed it were shaking their heads. Could an unscrupulous caregiver wheel an elderly person into the bank and take advantage? I guess this is another reason to file for Guardianship and/or Conservatorship.

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What? What bank is this? They should cash this. I cashed hundreds of savings bonds due to the expenses that insurance and medicare didn't cover. The only thing I can tell you is to look into becoming the Executor of her estate which solves the problem. You need to go to the court house in your area for this. Is she capable of signing papers?

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You bring the POA and the bonds along with you ID to the bank.

If they will not accept this...you ask them what document they need.

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So, my question is, when that's money is sitting there and nobody can access it, then what? Assuming that POAs are self-serving and Banks are all good is foolish assumption. When they'll take any "mark" as a legal signature because of their ridiculous requirements, that's absurd because any person can bring an elder in to sign "X" and withdraw their money. The Bank is likely to be liable if there's fraud in that case because that is NOT due diligence & it's a lame attempt at trying to cover their asses because first of all, they can't claim to "know" the person was competent when the elder "signed" the document. At least if a POA does something underhanded, they have someone to go after. Stupid.

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https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sec5188.pdf

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I've read often on the site about banks that won't honour a POA but insist on filling out their own documents giving you permission to act on someone's behalf. I'm pretty sure legally the banks are in the wrong, but since they are Goliath to your David it is almost impossible to oppose them.

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http://savings-bond-advisor.com/power-of-attorney-for-savings-bonds/

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I have also had problems getting a bank to honor my dad's POA. They insisted that he sign their forms. I tried to explain that my dad has dementia and he wouldn't know what he was signing if I brought him into the bank. They still wouldn't except the POA prepared by his attorney (small town, everyone knows my dad and the attorney, big bank bought out local community bank). I decided to be a bit dramatic, so I carried my dad, in wheelchair, into the bank. i couldn't believe it, but they allowed him to sign their form with just a mark - looked like a sideways 'S'. He had no understanding of what he was signing and I made a point of that in front of several bank employees by asking him questions about it. Two customers who witnessed it were shaking their heads. Could an unscrupulous caregiver wheel an elderly person into the bank and take advantage? I guess this is another reason to file for Guardianship and/or Conservatorship.

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Banks are trained to have certain protocol in place in case of elder financial abuse. My question is why doesn't she have a guardian? This specific type of situation sounds very familiar because POA can actually end up making a wrong move and gaining from the elder. You said the bank wouldn't cash the savings bond, good for them! They're actually doing their job bye protecting their own customers because it's situations like yours where elders are very often taken advantage of, my bio dad was one of them. It's usually the elders who need memory care facilities who are most vulnerable and situations just like you're describing that the banks are protecting their customers from. If you have unlimited powers as POA, I pity anyone under your care because it's people like your mom who are most vulnerable to elder financial abuse, and the bank was just doing their job.

To that bank I must say, good for you! Keep on protecting your elderly customers because without you, where would our elders be?

How can I, as POA, cash my mother's savings bond if she cannot be taken to the bank?

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