Legal Question in Family Law in Tennessee
power-of-attorney theft
Power of attorney was given to my then-wife because I was to be deployed to the Gulf War. My orders never came and I never even left the state of Tennessee, however, for 10 years she used the power-of-attorney to take a mortgage on my home, buy and sell property, remove my name from my personal vehicles, all without my knowledge. Do I have any legal recourse in this matter? This was done in my lawyer's office for which he was paid under these specific circumstances - power of attorney to be used while I was overseas. Is the lawyer responsible for allowing her to maintain this power for over 10 years? I have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to her without ever being informed. She simply signed my name and under that signed hers using ''power-of-attorney''. Please help if you can. Thank you.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: power-of-attorney theft
You should have revoked the power of attorney. I do not see how the lawyer is responsible for preparing a power of attorney as directed and then somone mis-uses the power of attorney.
Re: power-of-attorney theft
Attorney Poland and I appear to have slightly different views. The attorney might HAVE had some liability, not for theft but perhpas for negligence, for giving the Power of Attorney to your wife if he knew you had not been deployed, BUT the statute of limitations for that would appear to have long since run.
However, if you are still married, you really have not lost anything... and if these things were done by an EX-wife after divorce, you can pursue her for your losses.
There may well be things you can do. Speak directly to an attorney to fully explore your options and to provide the additional information needed to give more meaningful advice than what we can offer here.
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