'No power of attorney, however broad, is a licence to steal' — Maine's top court protects the elderly

A power of attorney is meant to be a shield: a trusted person empowered to act for someone who can no longer act for themselves. In Sabin v. Newcomb, Maine's Supreme Judicial Court ruled on 22 October that the shield cannot be flipped into a sword. A granddaughter alleged that an agent, acting under a sweeping power of attorney that even contained a clause excusing him, sold the principal's house far below its listed price to his own nephew and routed the proceeds around the estate. The lower court had dismissed her claim; the Law Court brought it back, holding that the legal duty of good faith — 'honesty in fact' — cannot be signed away, so no exoneration clause protects dishonest or self-enriching dealing. The case now proceeds. For every family that hands a loved one the keys to someone's finances, the principle is the protection: trust is enforceable.

SDG 16 · Peace, justice and strong institutions — Mechanism: legal ruling