As Attorney for Property, You Can Be Sued For Doing A Bad Job

The attorney for property is the person named in a Power of Attorney document (POA), to manage another person’s property. The attorney is not usually a lawyer – the term attorney just means the person with legal authority.

An attorney for property has a duty to learn what they are legally required to do in their role as attorney. Attorneys who do not learn and comply with their legal obligations cannot later claim they did not know better. They can still be held financially and legally responsible for the decisions they make.

Power of Attorney Liability

An attorney can be personally liable (forced to pay personally) for losses to the value of the assets of the person whose property they are managing if, among others:

• The attorney fails to pay the person’s bills and expenses
• The attorney fails to pay ensure the person’s taxes are filed and paid each year
• The attorney fails to invest the person’s assets wisely; an example of an unwise investment is leaving large sums of money in non-interest-bearing accounts over a long period
• The attorney fails to secure or maintain the person’s assets such as the house, cottage, vehicles, or personal property and as a result the assets lose value
• The attorney fails to liquidate the  person’s assets as needed to pay the person’s care and living expenses
• The attorney uses the person’s assets for their own benefit

Ultimately, the attorney should be hiring an accountant, investment advisor, lawyer and other professionals as needed to ensure the person’s assets are managed prudently.

The attorney should act reasonably, in good faith, and responsibly, as a reasonable and prudent person is expected to act. The law recognizes that losses can happen even while an attorney acts prudently, and some mistakes are innocent and made in good faith.

However, acting prudently and making a good faith decision that results in a loss is not the same as failing to inform oneself. It is not enough for an attorney to say they didn’t know how to invest wisely, or they didn’t know they were supposed to be preparing and filing the person’s taxes each year. It is the attorney’s job to educate themselves.