Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Both my sister and I had Power of Attorney for my mother when she was alive. My sister's Power of Attorney was put into effect in 1997. When my father passed away, my mother made a new Power of Attorney in my name in 2000. My mother is now deceased. She had Alzheimers disease.

My mother lived in Florida with my sister. I live in New York State and my mother was from New York State. Several months before my mother passed away, without my permission or my mother's permission, my sister closed a money market account that was solely in my mother's name and that was suppose to be part of my mother's estate.

As Power of Attorney, I asked my sister for receipts and what she did with all that money. My sister will not exactly tell me what she did with the money or send me any receipts for the money. She did at one time say that she put some of that money in a money market account in her own name. Isn't she accountable for that money, which should now be part of my mother's estate? Isn't this financial elder abuse? There is no where on her Power of Attorney for gifting any of that money. No one knows what she did with that money.

Now my mother is passed on and I am wondering if the estate attorney can ask her for an accounting of all that money and if there is any money left somewhere in an account in my sisters or her son's name, can the estate get it back before the estate has to pay the beneficiaries which she is one of. Both me and my sister are both co-executors of the will and also beneficiaries. Is that a conflict of interest for the estate attorney? Her son is also a beneficiary. I know that my sister did not use that money for my mother's healthcare or anything especially for my mother. I know if I take it to court it will probably be very expensive. I really don't want her to get away with this. Shouldn't she be accountable to someone for all this money? My mother would have wanted an accounting. I know that as a fact.

Remember, she won't tell ME ANYTHING or give me receipts. What should I do?

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