Here is the situation.  My grandmother assiged power of attorney of
her to her brother; she is in a assistant living home.  The brother
recently assigned power of attorney of himself to his daughter because
of poor health.

How do I get power of attorney of my grandmother without flying to
california or without spending any money, if possible?

The brother will not assign her power of attorney to me.  Do we have
to declare him incomponent?  The daughter does not want to go that
direction to get me assigned.  What are my options?  The daughter
wants me to have the power of attorney.

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Clarification of Question by leskowitz-ga on 20 Apr 2005 10:50 PDT

I think you answered the question.  

So it sounds like, you are saying I am screwed.  To get it from him
(most likely depending on the language), a revocation is needed.  To
revocate, I assume he has to die, revocate it himself, or a court
order (a path I do not want to go down)

I think I will try to get him to transfer POA to the daughter and then
she transfers POA to me.

Your right. It would be wise to shop for an attorney on this.

Thanks
Paul

Much depends on the wording of the POA in effect. The brother probably
still is the attorney-in-fact even with his own assignment of POA.
California Probate Code 4124 states:

>>"4124.  A durable power of attorney is a power of attorney by which a
principal designates another person as attorney-in-fact in writing
and the power of attorney contains any of the following statements:
   (a) "This power of attorney shall not be affected by subsequent
incapacity of the principal."
   (b) "This power of attorney shall become effective upon the
incapacity of the principal."
   (c) Similar words showing the intent of the principal that the
authority conferred shall be exercisable notwithstanding the
principal's subsequent incapacity."<<

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=prob&group=04001-05000&file=4120-4130

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=prob&group=04001-05000&file=4150-4155


As long as the brother feels he is not incapacitated, he can still
make his own decisions- including if and when he resigns as
attorney-in-fact. In other words there would have to be a revocation
of POA, which you say is the route the daughter does not want to go.

It would be possible to file the paperwork needed to tranfer POA
rather inexpensively- but all parties must agree. Then too, depending
on the wording of the original POA you wouldn't want to set yourself
up for liabilities. Therefore it would be wise to shop for an attorney
to help you understand all aspects of the POA.
Take a look at a sample Durable Power of Attorney:

http://classes.lls.edu/spring2005/elder-phelps/documents/PhelpsDPAFRev0311031.doc 

Another decent link in laymans terms, of course from an attorney
website can be found here:

http://www.eaglelink.com/law-review/poa-pet.htm