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Gimme, gimme never gets

Banks shouldn't
blindly trust power
of attorney papers

By Natalie Serafini,
Opinions Editor

[een read a CBC
news story about
senior citizens who had
been denied service at
Canadian banks. Ok,
that immediately sounds
bad—especially if you
picture a poor old soul
who doesn’t have the
funds for their cache of
Werther’s Originals—
but allow me to explain:
house-ridden senior
citizens often sign
power of attorney over
to someone else to help
with decisions and tasks.
Apparently an issue in
elderly banking is that
these people are denied
services if the documents
certifying power of
attorney aren’t completely
legitimate. The power

of attorney documents
haven't necessarily been
forged, but if they don’t
meet the bank’s legal
standards, theyll be
denied.

The senior citizens
aren't being denied service,
though. What's being
denied is the validity
of power of attorney
documents which aren’t
quite up to snuff.

Let’s pause and
consider a rather
widespread issue in the
senior citizen community:
financial elder abuse.
This is when an elderly
person is scammed or
manipulated into giving
away large sums of
money. Sometimes the
swindlers are strangers,
but they can also be
friends, family, and those
with power of attorney.

I don’t imagine
the bank is yukking it
up over forcing some

senior citizen to go
without money. Instead,
it seems like the banks
are safeguarding against
older people unwittingly
handing pools of money
over to an untrustworthy
person. I’d rather know
that banks have a certain

attorney, and (c) open
the door for more
substandard, illegitimate
papers. When it comes to
legal documents, I’d say
it’s better to only accept
legitimate ones.

Susan Eng of the
Canadian Association of

Opinions

said before, I’d rather
banks and businesses
not be flexible when it

comes to legal documents.

Besides which, some of
the power of attorney
Papers are apparently
vague, undated, and
missing signatures.

Id rather know that banks have a certain standard

66

for the senior citizens...

standard and that they
don’t accept power of
attorney papers willy
nilly. Even if it means
making it more difficult
for the senior citizens,

it’s better than papers
that could (a) give

power of attorney to an
untrustworthy person, (b)
illegitimately and perhaps
illegally grant power of

Retired Persons (CARP)
argues that “At some
point [the banks] have
to be reasonable. They
have to accept the word
of a lawyer who after
all is going to put his or
her license on the line
by signing the [power
of attorney] document.”
Like I

 
 

why Won’t
it accept my
Pennies ?

and that they dont accept power of attorney papers
willy nilly. Even if it means making it more difficult

Sounds to me like a very
good reason to not trust
the lawyer who prepared
those documents. If they
don’t know how to do
their job, perhaps they
aren't entirely credible
in vouching for another
person’s trustworthiness.
Even if they’re putting
their license on the line,
that’s not a sure fire
guarantee that
the documents
can be trusted.

      
  

 

 

The whole situation
sucks, and perhaps these
banks could have been
clearer about what the
clients needed to do to
access their own money.
But how might this story
have gone differently if
the banks consistently
accepted substandard
power of attorney
papers? Would there be
stories of senior citizens
who had unwittingly
handed over thousands
of dollars? Would the
banks be at fault because
they accepted illegitimate
documents? Some senior
citizens are fortunate
to have genuinely
beneficent, responsible
family members who
honestly care for them.
For the senior citizens
who are victimized by
coercion, manipulation,
and scamming, I think
that it’s best that these
policies remain in place.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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