Can a POA be deposed?

Sorry, you asked about depositions. My experience has been only with depositions held in connection with lawsuits. There might be other methods by which someone can be deposed, but I'm not familiar with them. That's not to say that they don't exist; I just haven't had any experience in that area.

Donna, I think the first thing to address is documentation of the alleged fraud, which is what it apparently is. Since that's a criminal offense, you'll need to contact law enforcement to file a complaint which can be investigated. Any documentation you can get to establish your claim would be needed. That would include bank statements especially, as well as any investment accounts that were "cleaned out."

In the interim, contact all the creditors and explain that there's a temporary financial crunch, w/o going into detail about the reason why. There's no point in saying or writing anything that might come back to bite you if you can't prove the accusations.

Ask for payment plans, and indicate that the family is addressing the situation but ask for leniency and cooperation until funds can be identified to make payments. Are these unpaid creditors primarily household related - utilities, mortgage payments, etc., or are there credit cards involved?

Any documentation you have on the events, as well as a copy of the POA, would be helpful to the police.

Be aware though that some police departments might not want to get involved in family affairs, and might refer you to an attorney. I've seen that happen on other issues.

Are there any assets, financial or otherwise, still left? If so, I think the first order of business in this case would be to get an injunction against the son to prevent any further depletion of assets.

Given the issue of proof (as opposed to something like a PPO when someone has been physically harassing someone else and the aggrieved person can apply directly for a PPO), I think you might want to consider consulting an attorney, probably in the elder law practice area.

He/she might be able to get an injunction stopping the son from further depletion of the accounts quicker and easier than a family member could. And he/she should know what documentation would specifically be needed to support issuance of an injunction, or restraining order.

I'm not sure about whether funds your mother saved, presumably co-mingled with your father's funds, would be treated the same way as his funds, given that she was their stepmother. It might be, e.g., that there's a different level of fraud since the son confiscated money from someone other than his father. I'm just speculating on this though. I don't have specific legal knowledge on the difference in sources of the funds, or whether this occurred in a state with community property laws.

How long a period has it been since this began? How did you find out about it? Do you have documentation on the 5 adult siblings' attitude toward your mother, and does it support the son's alleged justification for confiscating the funds?

What's your stepfather's position on what happened? Has your stepfather taken any action against the son?