A medical power of attorney allows an agent to act on behalf of another person, making their medical decisions. This is often part of an estate plan, dealing with long-term care planning or end-of-life decisions. The agent may get to decide if they should keep the person on life support or not, for example.
This can be an emotional time for the family. If family members disagree with the decisions being made by the medical agent, can they challenge the power of attorney?
Reasons for a challenge
Yes, a power of attorney can be challenged, but there needs to be a valid reason to do so. For instance, perhaps the agent is being accused of neglect. They’re not putting the other person’s best interests first. They do have a duty to do so, and violating it could get their position revoked.
In other cases, there may be questions about the paperwork itself. Were all of the documents drafted, signed, filed and notarized properly? Is there any question of undue influence, or someone from the outside influencing the elderly person to draft their documents in a certain way? The power of attorney must be valid to withstand legal scrutiny.
Finally, there can be questions over incapacity. Much of the time, a springing power of attorney only goes into effect if the elderly person clearly can’t make their own decisions and has legally been declared incapacitated. If the agent is trying to make decisions without that incapacity declaration, that could be problematic.
These types of estate challenges and disputes can be very complex, so those involved must understand their legal options.