Q: My sister had my nephew living with her and she was caring for him but then she sent him to with his dad (my brother) to care for him. He gets his social security for him now but we need to find out if my sister has power of attorney over him because my brother just found out that his illness has gotten worse and they are recommending a nursing home. My brother doesn’t want to go he wants to take care of himself, so we need to find out if she has power of attorney or not. (Johnstown, PA)

A: If your brother is competent it matters not if someone has a POA over him. He can do as he pleases and does not need to be directed by the Agent on the POA. As far as finding out if he signed a POA to someone, POA documents are not filed or registered anywhere so there is no place to look them up. You will have to ask around and do a little investigating. Why don’t you just ask her?