Ohio Court of Appeals Case: Can an Attorney in Fact Claim Compensation

Have you executed a power of attorney document in West Palm Beach?   Has your attorney in fact been taking compensation? You may want to see what the Ohio Court of Appeals had to say about an attorney in fact’s entitlement to compensation.

Attorney in Fact

• Do you know what an attorney in fact is?
• Typically the term attorney is used for an attorney at law but there is also an attorney in fact.
• Attorneys at law are lawyers but they can also be appointed as your attorney in fact if you so choose.
• An attorney in fact is the person you appoint in a West Palm Beach POA (Power of Attorney) Agreement.
• Pursuant to the terms of the West Palm Beach agreement you give that person the power to make decisions for you.
• Do you have to pay these guys?
• A recent case out of the Ohio Court of Appeals addressed the parameters of when anattorney in fact can be compensated for their service.

Stewart v. Boland

• Beneficiaries of testator’s will brought challenges to decisions made by the decedent’s attorney in fact including a claim of about $80 thousand for compensation.
• Compensation for an attorney in fact is perfectly allowed and the court is not usually one to assign a number as grossly high absent suspicious circumstances.
• Here the number was not even particularly egregious he claimed $250 a week, so how did he lose?
• It came down to credibility.
• The court was simply not prepared to give the attorney in fact money after a thorough review of the facts including other questionable conduct on his part.
• The court simply did not trust the testimony of the man and there was no writing regarding the payment so the court denied it.
• Does your West Palm Beach POA agreement have a compensation clause?

Want to learn more? Check out the entire case by clicking here.