A dementia diagnosis, a power of attorney, and a lawyer who benefited from both.
A BC lawyer used his elderly client's trust and her power of attorney to help himself to her money and estate.
A Law Society of British Columbia panel ruled on September 24, 2026, that a Vernon lawyer crossed the line from trusted advisor to self-dealing, in a case that reads like a cautionary tale for anyone who manages money for aging clients.
The lawyer started acting for the client back in 2017, when she was 84. Over time he became her lawyer and her attorney under a power of attorney, the legal tool that let him step in and manage her affairs as her memory began to fade.
Instead of protecting her interests, the panel found, he used that access to benefit himself. In July 2021, he had her sign over half her Vernon condo, worth an estimated $385,000, naming himself joint owner. The transfer went through the land title office that December.
Then came the money. Acting under her power of attorney, he moved $116,866.16 out of her trust account and into a company he owned - without her authorization, the panel found. That cash helped him buy his own $340,000 home and cover a payout in an unrelated client's file. He argued the transfers should count as an improper withdrawal rather than outright misappropriation, but the panel disagreed, ruling he knew he was acting outside his authority.
To make the loan story stick, he had the client sign two promissory notes - one for $81,886.16, another for $35,000 - each promising 5 per cent interest on money she'd supposedly lent his company. Neither has ever been repaid.
The final piece: in March 2022, he drafted a new will for the client naming himself as executor and beneficiary of 75 per cent of her estate.
None of it - the property transfer, the loans, or the will - came with independent legal advice for the client. She was later diagnosed with vascular dementia, and a complaint reached the Law Society in 2023. The lawyer resigned from practice in July 2025 and is now a former member.
The panel accepted an agreed statement of facts and found professional misconduct on all four counts. This ruling deals only with what happened - a decision on sanctions, if any, will come later.
For advisors, accountants and anyone with clients who are aging or showing signs of cognitive decline, the takeaway is simple: a power of attorney is a tool for protecting a client, not a shortcut to their assets. Watch for sudden changes to wills or property titles, transfers that quietly benefit a trusted professional, and clients who can no longer explain their own finances - and insist on independent advice before anyone in a position of trust ends up on both sides of a deal.
