Invalidate a Power of Attorney

Generally when creating a Power of Attorney, you want to appoint someone who you trust, who will act in your best interests, and who will handle your affairs with trust and honesty. However, if your Agent is no longer acting in your best interests, you need to take action.

If you are competent, you are perfectly able to revoke the power you grant to your Agent. The issue comes when an individual who is not competent has given power to an Agent who is no longer acting in that individual’s best interests, a person cannot then revoke that power.

It is up to the court to set aside a Power of Attorney. This goes hand in hand with a determination of whether or not the Principal is competent, which is an examination of and in itself.

It is up to the court to invalidate a Power of Attorney. A court can cancel a Power of Attorney if it was signed when the Principal was mentally incompetent when signed, or the Principal was the victim of fraud or undue influence.

It is another matter entirely to set aside the power granted by the Power of Attorney for an Agent who may not be acting in the best interests of the Principal. An emergency hearing would need to be scheduled and testimony and evidence provided that show that the Agent has violated their fiduciary duties in some capacity. Generally speaking, an Agent’s behavior would have to be blatantly obvious and clearly violate fiduciary duties to the point of damaging the Principal.

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