Q: As Power of Attorney for my mother, am I liable for charges for her stay in a nursing home?
A:
No. A power of attorney authorizes another person (the "attorney-in-fact") to act on behalf of the person signing the POA (the "principle") with respect to the matters identified in the POA.
While a POA might authorize you to write a check from your mother's bank account to pay for the nursing home, it does not make you personally liable for those charges.
Unless you signed a contract with the nursing home in which you agreed to be responsible for those charges, you are not personally responsible for those charges, and certainly not simply because you have been named in the POA.
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