We frequently receive calls from individuals who are concerned about the conduct of their loved one’s agent under a power of attorney. While the details change, the pattern is often the same; a child who is not his or her parent’s agent under a power of attorney, is concerned about how the child’s sibling, who is an agent under a power of attorney, is handling the parent’s assets or funds. Moreover, the complaining child’s grievance, while possibly justified, is often not very focused because the child who holds the power of attorney is not letting anyone know what he or she is doing.
The recognized legal method of obtaining information about the agent’s actions and determining whether the agent has breached a duty to the parent (in legal terms the “principal”) is to compel that agent to file an “accounting.” This is done by filing a petition to compel an accounting with the County Orphans Court. The agent is then required to file the accounting, which is a fairly detailed report on what assets the principal had when the agent first took over, how the assets were used, what was sold, what income was earned, which bills were paid, etc. An interested party can then file objections, often with the ultimate aim of undoing an improper transaction, having the agent reimburse the principal for bad decisions, or getting the agent replaced.
During the life of the principal, the principal, the principal’s court appointed guardian, or usually, the person’s heirs under the intestacy law have standing to petition to compel an accounting. After the principal’s death, it is generally agreed that the principal’s executor can compel an accounting for the agent’s actions (which often can be a problem when the executor is the same person as the agent). Any beneficiary of the estate has standing to compel the accounting.