Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

Re: Power of Attorney Issue

Like most situations, the problem is not with the facts as you remember them, but the risk that someone will remember them differently.

If you can prove that your elderly friend gave you the ring, of his own free will, you certainly have nothing to worry about.

The danger is whether your friend, at 98, will remember things and tell them the way that you remember them.

A power of attorney is NOT the same as a guardianship. If a person is not competent, a guardian can be appointed to take over their affairs.

A power of attorney allows someone to act for the principal. It does NOT give that person the power to PROHIBIT the principal from acting. It does NOT make them the exclusive authority over the person's affairs. She is not his guardian.

However, the question will be at 98, and a reasonable question, whether your friend truly is of sound mind, especially at 98.

If you reasonably believed that your friend was giving you the ring of his own free will, not a result of your coercion or manipulation, then you cannot be prosecuted by the police. (Well, they can prosecute you falsely, but you would win, if you can prove that.)

On the other hand, if it is proven that in spite of what you believe, your friend really is not all there mentally, then the gift might not be legally valid and they might demand it back.

However, no one can just SAY that a person is not competent. There must be a legal determination by a court that the person not mentally competent. It is not enough for someone to simply assert their own opinion about that.