The North Carolina Court of Appeals, in an unpublished decision filed December 17, 2025, addresses the concept of standing in power of attorney disputes. Here, mother had three children and named one of her children as her agent under a durable power of attorney. The other children thought that the sibling serving as the agent was distributing mother’s assets to benefit himself and his immediate family members. The siblings sued, asserting a claim for breach of fiduciary duty, requesting an accounting of mother’s assets, and asking that the power of attorney be declared invalid. During the discovery phase, the agent, now the defendant, failed to respond to discovery requests. The other siblings, now plaintiffs, asked that the defendant be held in contempt for failure to respond to discovery requests. The defendant responded that the plaintiff did not have initial standing, and that therefore the discovery requests were invalid.
The Court, however, disagreed. Relying on explicit statutory language in N.C.G.S. 32C-1-116(c)(5), proceedings brought pursuant to the North Carolina Power of Attorney Act may be brought by “any other interested person, including a person asked to accept a power of attorney.” Since the Mother’s remaining two children argued that they have an interest in the assets the defendant was alleged to be mishandling, the Court said that the plaintiffs are interested persons and have standing. Although the case is unpublished, it is worth noting the court here ruled that the siblings qualified as “interested persons” under the statute.