Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

That would be a business decision, depending on the size of the estate, liabilities of the estate and attorney fees involved. He had a fiduciary duty to his ward and would have to prove where the $ went.

Why not ask him?

I agree with David and there is merit to the advice you mention from the other attorney. While there is a fiduciary duty to the ward and also to the heirs, and you could hold the POA responsible for its breach, it would be hard to prove, without incurring some cost, that the duty was actually breached or that fraud was committed. If bills of your mother were paid this seems consistent with the duties of a POA. If your mother owed money to some of the payees of the checks, this also seems within the duties. A major difficulty would be checks paid to your brother or which paid his bills, as it could possibly be claimed there were gifts (especially if the dates were around holidays, birthdays or anniversaries, or if Mom felt he was entitled to something for the services he rendered as POA). If you cannot prove he acted improperly, you cannot recover anything, and then you might be responsible for any costs incurred. Difficult to advise you what to do.