Q: Question as to my liability as named as successor trustee and named in springing durable power of attorney in 2008
In 2008, I was named in my parent’s estate planning docs mentioned above. In 2018, my parents had already had my sister caring for them. After a couple of years, she brought in other parties, all meth addicts, like her, to help her.My parent’s savings was depleted. APS was brought in and insisted I take responsibility by having my parents resign as trustees & I take over. I also legally got full POA for their personal affairs. I am now being told by an involved party that I could have gotten in a lot of trouble while the vultures were there improperly caring for my folks because I didn’t step in and remove the problem people and take over their finances? Is that true? My parents were used to the care they were getting, good or not, and they knew it would cause conflict if I pushed people out so they told me to leave things alone. My understanding is as long as they were fully competent, they could make their own decisions. Everything is good now but the question lingers. Was I liable?
A: No. You have no liability for events prior to you taking over.
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