Can a sibling keep away the other siblings from any kind of communication w/a mom who has dementia. She does have power of attorney.

Question

Can a sibling keep away the other siblings from any kind of communication w/a mom who has dementia. She does have power of attorney.

Answer

Absolutely not. However, you also have to think in practical terms, not only what is legally the correct answer. Meaning: if you mom is living with your brother or sister, as a practical matter, if they're not going to let you in the house to see your mother, what are you going to do? Unfortunately to solve this problem you may need to go to court and begin a guardianship proceeding. Because this may be very, very expensive, what you may want to do first is hire an attorney to write your sibling a letter telling them if they do not give you reasonable access to your mother, you'll be forced to ask that a guardian be appointed. It's going to be a real mess. What we don't know of course is why your sibling would seek to prevent you from seeing mom. What's that about? Very odd.