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#69444 - 03/25/03 12:15 AM Customer declared incompetent
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When a customer has an individual account and they become ill and declared incompetent, what documentation would we need other than a letter from the doctor? The customer’s daughter needs to have access to her mother’s checking account.

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#69445 - 03/25/03 01:04 AM Re: Customer declared incompetent
Bear Collector, CRCM Offline
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I am not an attorney, but if your customer has been declared incompetant that would require a legal proceeding, and you would need papers to that effect. Usually the court appoints a guardian and the guardian would have court papers staing what they can and cannnot do for the incompetant person. I would NOT accept a letter from a doctor - that letter should go to the court and a judge must make that determination, not the bank. I would require legal proof before allowing anyone access to the account.
Leslie
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#69446 - 03/25/03 01:46 AM Re: Customer declared incompetent
Andy_Z Offline
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I would agree with Leslie. Legal is supported by medical, but medical does not dictate guardian rights.
Last edited by Andy Z; 03/25/03 12:31 PM.
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#69447 - 03/25/03 04:55 AM Re: Customer declared incompetent
Deepa C Offline
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Deepa C
Joined: Dec 2002
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Dubai, UAE
If the mother is in a position to sign, a Power of Attorney given by her favoring her daughter, should suffice. The Power of Attorney should spell out what the daughter can/cannot do. That can then be registered in Court.

However, if the mother is just not capable of coherently giving verbal instructions to the lawyer / signing, then the Court route has to be followed.

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#69448 - 03/25/03 01:25 PM Re: Customer declared incompetent
John Burnett Offline
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There's another wrinkle here. If there is a trust involved, and Mom is the trustee, there may be terms in the trust indicating that if Mom becomes incompetent, then daughter becomes successor trustee. In some trusts, a declaration from the trustee's physician can be dispositive of the question of Mom's competence. State law may alter that, but trusts are usually allowed pretty wide discretion on how to deal with matters of trustee succession.
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#69449 - 03/25/03 03:02 PM Re: Customer declared incompetent
zaibatsu Offline
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 6,153
This is a state law question. And a question for a lawyer, not compliance officers (my apologies to this learned group!). I have some thoughts, but will not waste your time--this is a state law question. If you depend on non-lawyers for these types of issues, you will often do the wrong thing. Your attorney should be able to set up procedures to follow. Just remember to ask him/her for any updates to the procedures after each legislative session.
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#69450 - 03/25/03 04:01 PM Re: Customer declared incompetent
WildTurkey Offline
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Down South, USA
Quote:

... If you depend on non-lawyers for these types of issues, you will often do the wrong thing. .....



Uh? Pretty much everyone here has said it's a legal matter, is that advice not to be trusted either?
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#69451 - 03/25/03 08:10 PM Re: Customer declared incompetent
zaibatsu Offline
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 6,153
WildTurkey--

Imagine yourself in a room with two doors. One leads to safety and the other leads to certain death. You must open one of the doors and go through.

Each door is guarded by a man. One man is an attorney who always lies. The other door is guarded by a compliance officer who always tells the truth. You can only ask one question of each of the men before opening a door and walking through.

What do you ask?
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#69452 - 03/25/03 08:34 PM Re: Customer declared incompetent
WildTurkey Offline
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Down South, USA
You ask either man what the other man would say, then do the opposite.

Next question please!

Now, what exactly was the relevance of this?
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#69453 - 03/25/03 09:12 PM Re: Customer declared incompetent
HRH Dawnie Offline
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HRH Dawnie
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 7,353
Anchorage Alaska
You should use this as a lesson to address incompetent accounts in the future as well. This is not a delegation a doctor provides (as previously mentioned) but is mandated and assigned by the court system. Accepting a POA probably won't work either. Aren't you already aware that the person is "incompetent"? If this is the case, you could not notorize her signature given your knowledge that she can not make decisions for herself (or the probable knowledge due to the information you have on hand). Many POA's actually become null and void in this circumstance.

Do as suggested, send the daughter to an attorney who can establish, through your states statutes, that the mother in incompetent. Without the court documents, you have no legs to stand on...and if mom wants to wander in and take everything elsewhere or give it to a freak on the street, she can do so...just like the rest of us
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#69454 - 03/25/03 09:23 PM Re: Customer declared incompetent
zaibatsu Offline
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No relevance; its just a riddle about trust.

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