Can a principle change her own POA once it’s been activated?

Poor Jason. I don't think I've ever read a sadder post; and even sadder is that he doesn't seem to have been back to read forum members' answers.

Hope he finds help from somewhere. Poor man.

Sadly many issues have been touched on.  It appears your POA was initially aimed at a temporary situation i.e. mental incapacity due to a temporary physical condition - HOWEVER was it in anticipation of being a permanent solution for future problems - was she actually competent at the time - what does the POA contract actually say - also most of my long-term ones also include statement must be revoked in writing (assuming they would be founds competent if they choose to revoke). If your mom is considering revoking it, you may want to take steps to call her competency into question BEFORE she acts.

DRINKING - this is definitely a problem for her and others and has progressed to point of substance abuse/addiction. Has she been declared disabled in the past i.e. on disability due to drinking problem? This most certainly affects not only her physical condition but her MENTAL capacity, You should have medical records of this from the doctor who told you it was time to invoke POA, care facilities, medical providers, etc.

DRIVING - she has no license due to active POA (many people with POAs have driver's license so I guess this is particular to your situation or your state). What about her driving record - DUIs/tickets that make her unable to get driver's license even if no POA? Does she have ACCESS to a car? Contact your Department of Motor Vehicles to find out about revoking driver's license, car license/registration. Plates should be pulled or specify only to be driven by her caregiver, etc. Driving illegally without a license or while under the influence of alcohol or even some prescription medications? Record & report to police. You do not want to take on responsibility of her or someone else's injury or death, property damage, etc.

It is common for someone who is incapacitated to believe they can handle their own affairs, to deny their problems. She appears to be unable to make decisions that are in her best interest as well as a danger to herself and others.

Check with your state law.  Usually a person is competent unless legally declared (signed by a judge) incompetent. While it may not be necessary, you may want someone else in the driver's seat so to speak.  Consult PRIVATELY with both her mental & physical health providers  etc. Perhaps GUARDIANSHIP by an agency i.e, mental health agency due to her inability to act in her own best interest i.e. behavior/drinking.  Mental Health agencies or even the State often act as guardians - and you can usually choose to remain as POA or turn the job over to them as well... taking YOU out of the line of fire so can work on more loving, positive, less stressful relationship for BOTH you and your mom in her remaining years.

Sadly your battles are only going to increase and affect your relationship. Love and support are so important. Trying to take care of a negative, combative loved one can only drive a wedge between you and prevent them from getting the full benefit of the most important thing - quality time with you & your LOVE.

1 - SHE CAN CHANGE THIS AT ANY TIME UNLESS SHE HAS BEEN DECLARED INCOMPETENT
2 - once she is declared incompetent then she can't change any legal paper without your permission
3 - does she have enough capacity to make an appointment with a lawyer, remember to go, clearly explain what she wants done? - probably not
4 - has she been checked for incompetency - when my mom was, I thought she would come up as mild but she was moderate to severe - by chance I was outside the room when they gave her the test & I was shocked at her answers like repeating words back, drawing a clock etc - have this done soon for both of your sakes
5 - keep the POA as she will need your guidance even more as time goes by - it is never easy but you will know how things are going for her - as all these appointments happen let rest of family know in a copied email to all so that nobody says that they weren't told

If she has been declared incompetent by one or two doctors (depending on what it says is her POA), she can not take you off as POA. If she was never declared incompetent by the doctor she can change her POA at any time.

Dealing with seniors who should not be driving.
There are many ways to try to address this but here is what I have found. Most families don't want to be the one to tell a parent that they can not drive because it can cause a lot of problems in their relationship with the parent. What I have my families do is call the Department of Revenue and tell them that individual is unsafe to be driving. The Department of Revenue will then contact the individual and tell them that they are going to have to submit to a driving test to keep their license. If the senior truly is not safe to drive they will not pass the test.

Another thing I have done is have the seniors doctor write a doctor's order to the individual telling them that they can no longer drive. Some seniors will follow any order their doctor tells them. Sounds simple but has worked with some seniors.

It depends on what your Mother's Power of Attorney document states. 

My parents' Durable Power of Attorney documents went into effect as soon as they signed them and they did not mention the ability to change the POA once the POA was invoked.  Also, their POA document DID NOT require a doctor to declare them as "incompetent" in order for the POA to be invoked because they owned farms and someone needed to be able to take care of the farm finances and other farm related business whenever they could not. I did not need to "invoke" Dad's POA as he was still able to handle his farm's business up until the day he died. I did have to "invoke" Mom's POA and "take over" her farm business because she could not figure out what needed to be paid when or how to write a check, etc.

You need to read your Mother's POA document and/or ask your attorney what the POA allows or does not allow your Mother to do once the POA is invoked.

Also, has your Mom been evaluated by a geriatric psychiatrist or a psychiatric nurse practitioner? If not, then she needs to be. The geriatric psychiatrist or a psychiatric nurse practitioner can evaluate your Mom’s thought process, sensorium (alert and oriented X 3), cognitive function, knowledge base, abstract thought, memory, judgment, insight and calculation ability.  

My Mom was evaluated by the facility's psychiatric nurse practitioner.  Mom “passed” the MINI-MENTAL EXAM and was “Alert and Oriented X 3”, but she had “Ideas of Unreality – delusional statements”; her thought process was “Confused, derails often with periods of lucidity” and her cognitive function, knowledge base, abstract thought, memory, judgment, and insight were all “impaired" and she could not figure out how many quarters were in $2.75.  Unfortunately the Social Service Assistant at the nursing home thought that Mom was competent and able to take care of her own finances. So when Mom became angry at me and my brother for making arrangements to pay for Mom's nursing home bill while we waited for Mom's Long Term Care Insurance to go into effect, the Social Service Assistant "helped" Mom to revoke my brother and myself as POAs and name our family attorney as POA.  I had to hire my own attorney and petition for guardianship and conservatorship.  During the process, the Attorney Ad Lidem assigned by the Court to represent Mom decided that Mom DID NOT know what she was doing nor understand the consequences and asked the Court to "disregard" the revocation that Mom had made and return Power of Attorney to me.  If the Social Service Assistant had read psychiatric nurse practitioner's notes, maybe she would not have encouraged Mom to revoke my POA.  Who knows!?!

Having an psychiatric evaluation available in your Mom’s health records that proves that your Mom is NOT able to handle her own affairs will strengthen your position as her POA—especially if your Mom (or someone well-meaning person thinks that your Mom is competent) challenges your POA status.

Yes, I did know a woman who apparently was "used to" drinking alcoholic beverages her entire adult life. This is absurd, but my late mother said that the AL she resided at allowed alpacas and alcohol to COME INTO THE ASSISTED LIVING.

I believe that in Wisconsin two doctors have to agree she is not competent to make her own decisions. After that she will have no way to revoke your POA. My mother occasionally threatens to take mine away but then forgets about it the next day. It is a hard place to be in.

Llama they can indeed get a drinky poo in AL. I worked at a place that was Il through NH, and they had wine with dinner if they wanted it. AL assumes they need some help, but can still make some decisions on their own. My mom was in rehab for CHF and pneumonia, and her Dr wrote her a "script" for a glass of wine a night. (ok;ed by her cardiologist) They sure don't advertise these places as prisons, instead of lifestyle places. But I think if she has been kicked out by several places she needs more than AL. If they can get out and buy their own stuff ( food, cigs, etc) then they can't stop them from "free will". It is not good but it is what it is.

Who is her alcohol enabler? That is shocking that a patient can get alcohol in an AL!

It can be Done, Hun, But I think Mom is Just "Talking out of her butt." Who else would be so Kind to Put up with her? Ignore her...

Sounds like you have a few things going on here. I believe POA and DPOA are different in the "power" and power to revoke they represent and then you have Gardianship which is another animal and typicaly used when the paitent either doesn't have a DPOA in place or is no longer in their right mind or doing things to harm themselves or others and fighting the appointed person. It get's more confusing of course because there are sometimes slight diffrences based in the State the LO lives in and I don't know anything about your state. However since there is a very good chance a lawer was involved in drawing up the POA and or DPOA that exists, that's where I would start. Get in touch with that attorney and ask them what power it gives you in the event she isn't thinking clearly or being cooperative. A simple POA is just the ability to act as that person wants "on their behalf" so yes if she is in her right mind she can change that. You mention the doctor however told you it was time to invoke the POA which is what makes me wonder if it's actually more than that or if there is a loophole in her state not allowing her in her present state of mind to change it.

On the subject of the battles that are becoming so intense with your mom, first does she have someone else to appoint POA? If so maybe it would be helpful for you, take that pressure and wedge out of your relationship. I suspect not though so my suggestion would be to make her doctor or doctors the heavy as much as you can. If indeed her doctor is wanting you to take the reigns and recognizes her issues maybe he or she will be willing to take the heat. I find with my mom that while she may be disgruntled by something (like loosing driving privledges) she is far less apt to argue or push back whith the doctor and we (her kids and POA's) are just following doctors orders. We remind her all the time it was DR... who insisted or even use it as a subtle threat when she wants to be obstinent with us, that's fine Mom but DR... may just take it out of our hands if this doesn't improve. She knows the doctor can call in "outsiders" and while it's all kind of nebulus about what the can or might do the fear of losing all decision making control for her and us is enough to get her to cooperate most of the time. This way while I am facilitating whatever it is she doesn't really want to do, I'm doing what has to be done to protect her from the unknown. We even do little things sometimes to lighten up the restrictions, for instance she isn't supposed to have any salt but it's impossible with her so I'll say have some peanut butter on those crackers (she likes to just lick the salt off an entire package or two at a time) so you get some nourishment and it might help you eat fewer, instead of reprimanding her for the crackers at all. Oh and now I tell her ok if you are going to eat salty foods on a given day so be it but you need to drink extra water on those days you do so your decision, extra water so you can have ham and cheese on crackers (Ugh!) or forget the salty foods so you don't need extra water. Just an example but that all then plays into her bloodwork results and she knows that particularly when we remind her, no hiding results from the doctor...brings us back to using them as the heavy. It's not perfect and don't have the added challenge of alcohol but for us anyway so far it's helped maintain our relationship with her as well as our ability to manage/care for her.

Before seeking guardianship, if the doctor will write a Declaration of Incapacity, then you should be able to invoke the POA and make decisions without having to go through guardianship.

Without a DOI, a person cannot just make someone do something because they have POA. And if the person does not have DOI, he/she may revoke the POA.

She can but she won't due to her addiction. Go and see what you can do to get her into rehab for her drinking. If she refuses to go, it's then that you have to stop enabling her. The facilities that kicked her out did so for a very good reason. Now she needs to face that reason in an AA meeting. Good luck.

You need to get guardianship, that allows you to make decisions for her , sounds like she is no longer able to make them for herself, probably should talk to a good elder lawyer

I am wondering how she gets the alcohol? Is someone at the facility buying it for her?
Is there a substance abuse rehab she can go to?
Does she still have a car?
Is it possible for you to remove her car from the facility where she is so she can not drive.
OK got that off my mind.
Can you explain to her that if you are not POA a Guardian may have to be appointed and it will either be you or the State will appoint a Guardian and you will be much easier to deal with than a State appointed guardian.

In Illinois, an individual can revoke their POA at any time no matter the level of incompetence and it can be done verbally. For instance, she can tell her doctor or someone at the facility she is in that she no longer wants you to be her POA. POA only works as long as the parent is cooperative. The only way you can legally take responsibility for your mom is to file for plenary guardianship (both for the person and their estate--managing income, paying bills, etc.). You will need an attorney and the court will assign an attorney for her. It's not easy to go through but when a parent becomes uncooperative with decisions that are in their best interest, it's the only way to be sure you can help her. Without guardianship she can sign herself out of any facility you put her in. It will help if her doctor is willing to sign a statement that she is incompetent, which, I've found, doctors are very reluctant to do or even refuse to do despite the obvious. Otherwise, the judge is left to form his own opinion based on evidence provided. We had to do this with my mother-in-law because she refused to leave her home even though she could no longer safely live there even with daily home aides coming in. It was terrible to have to testify in court about what was happening with her sitting there but we all know we did the right thing for her and she didn't remember it had even happened a minute after we left the courthouse. You are in a tough place, one many of us have been or are in now.

jason, it sounds like a very rough ride indeed, I’m sorry. Do you have any support for yourself/your own peace of mind? Sounds like this is exactly what a POA is for, my mom has hidden hers on paper from me now that she’s going off the deep end. I think and hope yours will stay in force for just the reasons folks above named. It is very hard to go through this part, sending you my support.

Ammonia levels affect mental competence; to change POA under those circumstances would require a court-appointed guardian. See an eldercare attorney to get that organized. A better alternative is get her on Medicaid and nursing home, but she will probably need to be hospitalized to be "dried up" from the booze and alcohol withdrawals. Her ammonia levels need to be monitored and her doctor may put her on scheduled lactulose if they are high.

If the POA has been invoked because you have proof of incompetence then nothing she can do. Blaming you because the state revolked her license is unreasonable. Just read that memory is effected in last stage of cirrhosis. Moms continued drinking doesn't help. Maybe she needs a LTC facility where she can't get liquor.