Q: I have a poa for my father. I put his property in my name with a bill of sale that he wrote, after he died and used both
The attorney I used to put it in my name said nothing and a couple years later I sold it and used the same att. Now Commonwealth ins, is saying I owe the $15,000.00 saying I didn't have the authority to put it in my name. I have no idea what is going on and I don't want to be in trouble. I don't have that kind of money and I figured that with real estate att. and title searches he should've told me if something wasn't right. Please help me.
A: Sounds like you have a huge mess on your hands. There are huge issues at stake here. Hopefully the attorney that you consulted with can help you, and you certainly should contact him. First of all, there is no such thing as a 'bill of sale' for real estate. You might mean a deed, but your use of that terminology makes me nervous. Second, it is possible that you should have opened an estate for your father upon his death...you see, your authority to use the power of attorney STOPED when your father DIED. Third, when you hold a power of attorney, you have a fiduciary duty to use that power for the good of the principal, that is your father. If you used it to take your father's property improperly, then you can be held liable for that use. Whew. Finally, if your father was in nursing care paid for by Medicaid and the transfer of the property impoverished your father, Medicaid might be looking to be reimbursed. Anyhow, there are too many possibilities for me to give you a good answer here, so you shouldn't rely on this advice. If you would like a more complete consultation, you can go to my profile page and call or email to set up a consultation. We don't charge for an initial consultation of 30 minutes or less. And we don't bombard you with spam, etc.
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