My aunt sent me a check in my name for $130. She wrote a note saying this is money for your dad's medical expenses.
I gave the money to my sister (who has the health care directive ) and told her to use it towards all the care she does for my dad (gas, picking up groceries, prescriptions, relieving caregivers for breaks, etc.). never thought to send the money to the POA.
My bother, who has POA, said " neither I nor my sister have legal authority to handle fiduciary matters (including medical expenses) on behalf of our dad without his approval. He is demanding I mail him a check for $130.
As the POA, does he have the right to demand I send him the money that my aunt wrote to me?
That 130 isn't Dad's money.
It's your aunt's money. She wants to pay for 130$'s worth of your dad's medical expenses. She is the one choosing where her 130 goes. So I don't think brother has the right to say anything. So, he doesnt get the 130. Just say "okay well" and send it back to aunt, or, tell your brother that if that 130 was used for medical expenses, wouldn't the estate then owe the aunt the money, if the aunt;s money covered bills that were th ePOA's "fiduciary responsibility"?
Cause seriously he sounds like a schmuck. I'd then have your sister bill him for gas every time she drves for dad. I'd maked it a pain in the butt for him to play this kind of a game.
Cause again. Aunt didn't owe your dad 130 or anythign of the sort. it is her money, it would prob register as a "gift", and as the three of you made the decisions on where it went, if it is stuff that your brother wouldnt have wanted to pay for? then it wouldnt be an "expense" of your dad. as he woudnt have paid for it in the first place.
What a... ugh. I know there are ppl here way better at this, I am interested to see their take <3
Makes me happy I had no brothers and sisters to fight over all this with.
Still, if the brother is an otherwise useful contributor doing tasks OP or sister would not like to add their lists, he can be soothed by clarifying what to do going forward.
Maybe send the aunt a thank you note with a copy to the POA. “Thank you so much for your gift. It has been used to cover some of small medical expenses that are so easy to overlook. We appreciate your thoughtfulness. Brother was concerned that you might have intended it to cover expenses he is responsible for paying out of Dad’s account as POA so I thought I’d let you know that if that is something you’d ever like to do, it would be better to send the check to him in Dad’s name. I will call you to check in if you would like me to do anything else. Love, —-“
If call to aunt results in HER outrage about what OP did with the money (unlikely), I’d suggest going through sister’s receipts for pharmacies, copays, and prescriptions; calculate miles to and from Dad’s house; multiply by IRS mileage rates; add any other out of pocket expenses and prepare a request for reimbursement to sister deducting the $130 already received.
Brother shouldn’t be encouraged to waste Dad’s money on small claims court fees or lawyers.
Thank your aunt and that is that. He will know a whole lot better than to do anything. If he wants to know how a POA for financial should be done refer him here to ME! Then Aunt won't be writing checks and his life will be a heck of a time spent record keeping every single penny in and every single penny out of her accounts. This is a very small amount no court will be interested in.
Now, if you get checks in the thousands and you suspect Aunt isn't doing well and may be sending checks she cannot afford to send these should be sent to this jerk, torn in half, with a letter (keep a copy) to tell him that his Aunt is currently writing checks she may not be able to afford and that it is HIS FIDUCIARY DUTY to protect her from doing so and he had better get to the bank at once to take care of the accounts before the Aunt goes broke and he gets in legal trouble for not doing his Fiduciary Duty to protect her.