Elder Law Answers
Must a Hospital Inform the Agent Under a Medical POA of a Change in the Patient's Condition?
A hospital did a competency test on a patient and found that she was incompetent, but no one told the patient's daughter w...
Read moreDoes the Agent Under a Medical POA Have the Right to Get Information from the Agent Under a Financial POA?
- January 21st, 2021
Q
As an agent under a medical power of attorney (POA), do I have the right to see my father’s financials? The agent under the financial POA, who is my brother, has never revealed any financial information even though my dad requested it multiple times. Now my dad is not able to make decisions for himself. My brother has never been transparent with my father’s finances, is very controlling, and argues over providing care for my dad when the doctor says he needs it.
A
For the most part, the answer is "no." The agent under a financial durable power of attorney has no obligation to disclose financial matters to anyone other than the person for whom he is acting. But the fact that your brother may be refusing to pay for care that you are authorizing as your father’s agent under his health care POA gets into a gray area. You need to be able to work together and you cannot make appropriate decisions for your father without knowing what he can afford. Your brother may argue that he can just tell you what’s affordable and what’s not, but it can be very difficult for you to do your job without cooperation and more transparency from your brother. He should be more transparent. Ultimately, he’ll have to be since after your father’s death you will have the right as an heir to get access to his financial information.
For information on resolving disputes between medical and financial POAs, click here.