What Do I Do When I Have Only One Original of My Mom's POA and a Company Wants Many?

Q: I have both medical and durable power of attorney (POA) for my mother, who is living in a memory care facility. She has not been declared incompetent, but is obviously not competent anymore. She printed these POAs years ago with an inkjet printer, got them notarized, and gave me one original. The quality is not great. I am trying to sell some timeshares to help save her money and I am told that I need to send an original to the timeshare company and each county it has property in. I only have one original and I really don't want to let it out of my sight. Is there any way to get this document validated in some way and get more of them so I can give them to all these people who want originals? Also, the bank refused to accept my POA because of the poor quality.

A: Unfortunately, it’s not unusual for banks to refuse to honor durable powers of attorney for one reason or another. In terms of the timeshares, I’m surprised that they need more than one original since timeshare ownership is usually not recorded like real estate. I’d push back on this. They may be able to see the original and return it to you after making a copy or they may accept a copy certified to be true by a notary or a lawyer. I’d run all of these possible solutions by them. If they won’t work, you may need to go to court to be appointed guardian or conservator for your mother. For more information on guardianships, go here: http://www.elderlawanswers.com/guardianship/conservatorship.

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Article Last Modified: 10/28/2015

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What Do I Do When I Have Only One Original of My Mom's POA and a Company Wants Many?