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Re: Power of Attorney - being hounded.
I strongly agree with 'righty'.
Your wish to demonstrate your honesty, transparency, integrity or whatever is a commendable response to such agressive intrusion, but the over-riding principle of a PoA is that everything you decide would be informed by the best interests of the subject. A duty of confidentiality will probably not be referred to in your PoA explicitly, confidentiality tends to be sustained through Common Law principles, though there is explicit reference in the Guidance attached to the empowering Act (Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000) which clarifies that an Attorney has been placed in a position of trust by the Sheriff to exercise a 'fiduciary duty'to the subject. That may be the key phrase to your obligations, fiduciary duty requires you to maintain the subject's confidentiality.
Equally, the wording of your PoA probably does not explicitly authorise you to discuss the subject's affairs with others.
I hope that you do not find yourself moving towards a legal dispute, however, as there are other requrements of the Act (in S.2) with which you may struggle to comply if there was to be a challenge: e.g. annual accounts; acruing interest on cash over £500; an inventory, etc. But as long as you hadn't used any of the subject's assets for your own gain, then I'd be astonished if there was any worse outcome than a waste of time.
Sadly, there is little by way of remedy available to you. In England, an Injunction would be an expensive but appropriate response, but the Scottish Interdict is not a simple equivalent.
I do have some experience of the Scottish Continuing Power of Attorney (PoA).
Hope this helps.
I strongly agree with 'righty'.
Your wish to demonstrate your honesty, transparency, integrity or whatever is a commendable response to such agressive intrusion, but the over-riding principle of a PoA is that everything you decide would be informed by the best interests of the subject. A duty of confidentiality will probably not be referred to in your PoA explicitly, confidentiality tends to be sustained through Common Law principles, though there is explicit reference in the Guidance attached to the empowering Act (Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000) which clarifies that an Attorney has been placed in a position of trust by the Sheriff to exercise a 'fiduciary duty'to the subject. That may be the key phrase to your obligations, fiduciary duty requires you to maintain the subject's confidentiality.
Equally, the wording of your PoA probably does not explicitly authorise you to discuss the subject's affairs with others.
I hope that you do not find yourself moving towards a legal dispute, however, as there are other requrements of the Act (in S.2) with which you may struggle to comply if there was to be a challenge: e.g. annual accounts; acruing interest on cash over £500; an inventory, etc. But as long as you hadn't used any of the subject's assets for your own gain, then I'd be astonished if there was any worse outcome than a waste of time.
Sadly, there is little by way of remedy available to you. In England, an Injunction would be an expensive but appropriate response, but the Scottish Interdict is not a simple equivalent.
I do have some experience of the Scottish Continuing Power of Attorney (PoA).
Hope this helps.
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