Chapter 12 - The Policy
After changing the beneficiary, I searched every old document I had ever signed for my parents.
That was when I found it.
Years earlier, after a car accident, I had signed a temporary medical authorization naming Dad.
Behind that page in the scanned file was another document.
DURABLE FINANCIAL POWER OF ATTORNEY.
My signature sat at the bottom.
I had never signed it.
I called Greg.
“Could they use this?”
“If a bank believes it’s valid, yes.”
We sent revocation notices everywhere.
Banks.
Credit cards.
Insurance.
Investment accounts.
Then the bank called.
Someone had already tried.
A woman had walked into a branch near my parents’ house and presented the power of attorney to unfreeze the joint account.
The fraud officer asked whether I knew Diane Cole.
My mother.
I called Dad.
“What did she do?”
He sighed.
“Your mother is desperate.”
“She used a forged document.”
“She thinks you signed it.”
“I didn’t.”
Then Dad lowered his voice.
“There’s something you don’t know about the lease.”
I closed my eyes.
“Of course there is.”
“The landlord wanted us out last summer. Your mother used your guarantor paperwork to force the renewal.”
“And you let her?”
“She said you approved it.”
“You believed her?”
A pause.
“I wanted to.”
It was the most honest thing he had said.
Then I heard Mom in the background.
“Who are you talking to?”
The call ended.
Thirty seconds later, Dad texted me a photo.
A trash bag full of shredded documents.
May you like
On top was half a bank statement.
My name was still visible.
