Criminal Executor Misconduct In Canada

 I want to talk about criminal executor misconduct in Canada, and I’m also going to touch on Power of Attorney misconduct as well. So, I guess we all know what an executor of estate is, as someone who named in a will to look after the estate. After deceased dies, they need to manage the estate, distribute the proceeds, pay off taxes and make sure everything gets done honestly. The operative word is honestly in good faith. That is the role that executor to carefully follow the distance voices set out in their will. Now a Power of Attorney for financial affairs that person. Let’s say the person becomes disabled, so you’re the name is the power of attorney. Well, again, you have to exercise honesty in good faith to pay off bills, to look after that person. And of course, this doesn’t always happen, unfortunately in Canada. Now, what could a person be charged with, if they you know, if there is misconduct, criminal misconduct? Well, there’s different charges that apply. There’s theft, breach of trust, possession of stolen property, forgery. So, there’s all sorts of different offences that can cover here. And I’ll give you some examples, some simple examples. You know, if you’re administering an estate and you’re dishonest, you might, for example, take some of the proceeds for yourself. You might not distribute the assets properly. Maybe distribute some of them, or all of them. Maybe you sell the house and keep some of the gains. So, there’s all sorts of ways that a state’s mismanaged, and I hate to admit this happens more than we know in Canada, and I’ve seen these particular charges emerge, and they’re very serious penalties here. I mean, depending on the charges for breach of trust, staff, forgery, those different sections, some of them are 10-to-14-year maxes sentence, and a person could face significant jail time, especially if they’re stolen or defrauded the estate out of a lot of money. And fraud is another charge as well that can arise, but from misconduct, power of attorney can do the same thing. I mean, you’re managing a person’s affairs who’s in an old age home. They’re not of right mind, and you’re just lining your pockets. You know, there’s breach of trust, there’s theft, all sorts of ways that this happens in Canada, and so that that’s what goes on. And you know, if you are in this position as the power of attorney or executor of estate, you have to act honourably, you have to act in good faith, and the courts will scrutinize your conduct, if people you know, if it comes to attention, and certainly, police will lay charges in the right case, and prosecutors take this type of offense very seriously. I’ve, I’ve seen people face multiple years in jail for stealing estate money or stealing money from a power of attorney that should have gone to paying bills, and it’s just a complete mismanagement, and it causes tremendous hard deed in families, because it usually gets found out and a complaint is going to happen. So my advice to anyone in this situation is number one, if you’re executor, you probably need some legal advice about how to properly do it, but you know, the guiding principle is just fairness and honesty, and then get the legal advice you need to distribute and manage the estate property. And same with the power of attorney, you need to just act honourably. And so that’s the nutshell, a little primer about executor and power of attorney and misconduct in Canada.