Can a power-of-attorney be accepted to initiate transactions on a trust account? We've had several cases where a trustee has granted power of attorney to someone. This person then wants to transact business on the trust account using his power as attorney-in-fact. I feel that, unless the trust contains provisions for using a power of attorney, it should not be accepted because the trust establishes who can transact business. The most recent situtation is compounded because the trust does not mention the use of a power of attorney, but the power of attorney papers reference the trust. How would anyone else out there handle this?

If you do a search on POA, you will find a post from April that addressed this. My opinion is that if the trust does not give the trustee the right to name a POA, I would not accept it.