The details are too long for telling in this space but here are the essential facts:
1. Power of Attorney was authorized to draft one check a month in the amount of $750 while I was deployed with the military to Iraq last year. This amount was to be reported to the TX OAG (child support) as direct payments towards 16k in arrearages. He failed to report any of the money to the OAG and even took out more, and since my return still has not filed the paperwork.
2. I began receiving a garnishment from my ex-husband in May of last year. Informed the POA that the check needed to be deposited to my account, not cashed. He failed to do so. I was able to get into contact with DFAS to have the following checks direct deposited into my new account.
3. My cats were left in his care, simple instructions were that he was authorized to use funds from my account in the course of their care. He got rid of them right after I left the states. I learned about this via email from my daughter a full month later.
4. POA also wrote an additional check for $900 (not authorized) and tried to claim that it was a "bank error".
Since my return, I have been patiently waiting for him to sign a simple document and forward it to the OAG. To date he still has not done so. All the OAG can do is continue to send him the affidavit to sign, but they cannot force him to comply.
From the research that I have been able to do, Texas does have statutes governing POAs and their actions. My question is can I file a civil case against him to make him either sign the document (which I want) or get my money back? I did revoke the POA before I left Iraq (I kept my part of the agreement), but I had also opened another bank account earlier that he had no access to.
I have been weighing my options between civil and criminal over the last six months and I feel I have a fairly reasonable cause for action in either situation. A second, third and fourth opinion would be greatly appreciated.
One final note, I have reviewed the military POA that I gave him, and no where in it does it have a clause offering protection from liability to the agent, only to third parties accepting the POA.
Thank you for any assistance you can provide.
