[WSBAPT] DPOA Unraveling

[Mark Vohr]

Terry -

          These are challenging situations.  There are two, well, maybe three paths.   I'm not an expert on the legal ethics implications of this, but I believe you can decline to assist your client or agree to help your client - you have said you could not help.  Probably a good response.  What I don't think you can do is help the son or sister even if your are thinking this is possible under RPC 1.14.   However, if I was the attorney in this matter, I would be very curious who procured the new DPOA and how (another reason to say no...).  I would also be very careful not to divulge client confidences.  You are no longer involved and said you could not help her.  That problem belongs to someone else.

          As to the validity of the new DPOA, other than the concern over undue influence, there is the matter of a valid revocation of the first DPOA.   RCW 11.125.160(2)(a) and (4) addresses valid revocation by authorizing a court petition.  The son could certainly bring a petition for determination.

          Given the incapacity factor, a guardianship/conservatorship may, unfortunately, be needed.  This sounds like the elements of dueling powers of attorney and possible undue influence or something else.  So, the son could bring a petition for guardianship.  All this said,  I would not tell the son or sister or mom anything about what they can do or can't do.  I would refer them to another attorney.  Good move saying no - I would not waiver on that.  Sometimes our smartest moves are the cases we don't take.

Regards,

Mark

Mark C. Vohr, J.D. CPGC
Ohana Fiduciary Corporation
A Washington Trust Company
155 NE 100th St., Suite 209
Seattle, WA  98125
Telephone:  (206) 782-1189

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Terry Gobel
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2025 1:05 PM
To: wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com
Subject: [WSBAPT] DPOA Unraveling

A couple of years ago, a client signed an estate plan, including a springing DPOA. Recently, her son, who she named as AIF, contacted me and said she was hospitalized with a serious condition and her mental state had deteriorated to the point where he needed to step in under the DPOA. I told him to get a letter from the attending physician with that clinical determination. He did that and sent me a signed and dated letter from his mother's physician that stated she could no longer made decisions for herself in her best interests. Then, about a month later, the client called me to say that her son was meddling in her life and trying to take over and she wanted me to intervene. Then, she handed the phone over to her sister, but I told her that I could not help her. The son, then reached out and said his sister, who had been estranged from his mother for many years, suddenly appeared in the mother's life and was trying to undo the estate plan. A few days ago, the sister (formerly estranged daughter of my client) emailed me a revocation of POA written up on a Bank of America form and a newly notarized POA signed by my former client.

I don't know who is on "first" here, but I know the physician and trust his assessment. What should I do? What should I not do?

Very truly yours,

Terry D. Gobel, J.D.
Gobel Law Office, PLLC
421 W. Riverside Avenue, Suite 908
Spokane, Washington 99201
(509) 624-4102
          624-4115 (fax)
www.attorneyinspokane.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.attorneyinspokane.com&d=DwMFAg&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=K1mLMC1eFjwfeeMM-AC6zQ&m=a9dfHjylDUjIdILdtFyQ2mC48lyrAWkIH3jz_5basQXFoVEQJyvPPzLtGL8cKX-a&s=fxdpydshB4AmfUX7zuTbQZApdIOS5VCZJ5JCcYct-BQ&e=>

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