Court Affirms Judgment that Power-Of-Attorney Holder Converted Funds by Withdrawing them from a Joint Account

A Texas appeals court affirmed the decision of the lower Fort Worth court, finding that a brother used his power-of-attorney given to him by his brother (the decedent) to wrongfully exercise dominion and control over the money in a joint account to the exclusion of, or inconsistent with, the sister in law’s rights, who was the other account holder of the account.

The brother argued that the sister in law did not own the funds because the decedent was the sole source of them and the withdrawal was legal and authorized because the power of attorney allowed the brother to undertake banking transactions. However, an employee of the bank testified that the two account holders, decedent and the sister in law, had equal rights of access to the account. The brother admitted that he knew it was a joint account with rights of survivorship and that he took the funds solely so the sister in law would not receive them when his brother passed away.

The brother tortiously interfered with the sister in law’s right to obtain the decedent’s funds once the decedent died. However, the Supreme Court of Texas does not have a remedy for tortious interference with inheritance claims.

See David Fowler Johnson, Court Affirms Judgment that Power-Of-Attorney Holder Converted Funds by Withdrawing them from a Joint Account, Texas Fiduciary Litigator, October 27, 2018.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.