A Pennsylvania government study commission has proposed legal reforms to curtail power-of-attorney abuses that have cheated the elderly, the disabled and their heirs.
The 222-page report includes draft legislation and is the result of an 18-month study ordered by the state House after a 2007 series of articles in the Post-Gazette. The articles revealed gaps in the law that had allowed attorneys and family members to divert savings and pension benefits to their advantage.
"The majority of powers of attorney work very well, but when they don't work they cause tremendous problems," says Caliofrnia Elder Abuse attorney Steven C. Peck who may be contacted toll free at 1.866.999.9085.
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The study was ordered after the House passed a resolution by State Rep. Jesse White, D-Washington County, who said he was incensed by reports of POA abuses detailed in the newspaper during 2007.
"I will almost certainly be introducing some sort of legislation for comprehensive power of attorney reform," Mr. White said. Initially, Mr. White and several others had suggested the commission explore adopting a nationwide standard called the Uniform Power of Attorney Act.
The committee did a side-by-side comparison of Pennsylvania law with the proposed uniform act.
"We found that our structure was sound and that we addressed most issues already," said Neil Hendershot, a Harrisburg estate lawyer and expert on POA.
Instead, the committee opted for alterations of the current Pennsylvania law.
Major among them is a provision that would forbid an agent -- the person on whom a power of attorney has been conferred -- from making changes in an estate plan, including pensions and insurance, without such permission expressly granted in the document or unless they obtain the approval of an Orphans Court judge.
That reform, several said, was inspired by one of the cases detailed in the Post-Gazette series. In that instance, the mother of Ronald Slomski, a dying Erie man, used a power of attorney document days before her son died to change the beneficiaries in his pension account from the step-daughters he had raised to Mr. Slomski's two siblings.
The case wound its way through the court system until December of last year, when the state Supreme Court, in a split decision, determined that the language in the law permitted that action, even though it circumvented Mr. Slomski's apparent intentions, as described in his will, to leave the bulk of his estates to the step-daughters.
Questions about power of attorney abuse prompted a hard look by the office of District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.
After an initial report that raised questions about $40,000 in political donations from the trust fund of an elderly Upper St. Clair widow, Mr. Zappala's office brought criminal charges against her lawyer, Allegheny County Councilman Charles P. McCullough, who faces trial later this year.
Under proposed changes, courts would also have broader powers to order investigations or to intervene in the handling of a power of attorney upon allegations of financial abuse or mismanagement.
Current law requires a third party to demand an account of money handling. The changes would open the door to a court ordering governmental agencies, including prosecutors, to step in early in the process.
