I was POA of my dad. He passed and I found out a POA is only good when they are alive. My question is before he died I moved money from his account to mine am I allowed to do this? He had no will, no living trust, no house, and no property. I payed all his bills and closed all his accounts as well. Any help would be appreciated.
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There may be problems re why you moved the money from your Dad's account to yours. If you were trying to avoid probate, other family members, etc., by, in effect, "hiding " the money, this is illegal.
I suggest you consult with an attorney re the status of all financial decisions, etc., you made prior to and after your father's death.
Generally the answer is with the POA you are THE legally recognised next of kin and de facto executor of the 'estate' (yes I read that your father had no 'real' assets but to the law, a bank account of any size is an asset) but DCA is right - you need to consult an attorney, preferably the one who wrote the POA. Depending on where you live, the answer could be anything from 'No worries!' to 'Uh oh, you may be looking at some serious problems from the IRS (USA), HRMC (UK), or tax authority in your country if not the UK or US.
I did the same thing you did and the only reason I didn't have any trouble with the IRS (I was living in the US at the time, I now live in the UK) was because I consulted with the attorney when the POA was written and knew what forms to fill out and documents to submit after the funeral. The only real unpleasantness came from my sister and a cousin - they actually tried to start a row during Dad's funeral, accusing me of stealing his money.
That was of course unhappy but the consultation with the attorney made a difference - Sister and cousin tried to take legal action and the judge threw it out when he saw the consultation from the POA writing attorney and the paperwork proving I'd satisfied tax burdens.
My condolences at your loss, and best wishes for your going through sorting all the details after.
it depends on the type of poa you have some is just medical others is for everything . we found out when my husbands grand father died that poa had moved all the money from his accounts , he had one for my son his only great grand son for collage for what ever he decided to . and she had move the money to her own account had used poa to change the benifacary on life ins policy . it was a real shock for my son to find out all his plans for collage was over , she had took and emptyd his bank account and used her poa to band his only son and grand children from the funeral .
There are so many unanswered questions..
Large or small amount of money?
Why did you do this?
Was there money left after paying all of your father's bills/expenses?
Are there other people involved?
I agree that you need to consult with an attorney to be sure
everything was handled correctly and what do you have to do now.
I read what Mary B. said and I know this happens a lot with families. Sad - but true - even with small things.
But - I have never heard where a POA can give anyone the right to keep someone from a funeral. The legality of a POA ends when the person dies.
Put your mind at ease - consult an attorney.
Never heard of POA only good while that person is alive ! If you are the ONLY sibling I feel it would be OK for you to do that.....Now if there are other Siblings here then you would probably have to split the money of what is left to be fair. I have an Uncle that was POA over my Granny and he paid her $10. !! for her house/land since she stayed in his house. Long story short there is an Aff. of Heirship and the Uncle is trying to take ALL ! very sad....
I am not a Lawyer but I have experience of this..
You can transfer the money and it is a good idea as you may need it to pay the Inheritance Tax due.
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