- 12 -
the present and the past, in contrast to the next sentence: “As
you may know, while he was competent, Mr. Halper believed that
the assessed amounts were not accurate”.
When Bergman signed the Form 872 in 1992, petitioner had
been judged incapacitated and coplenary guardians had been
appointed by the court. They were the only persons legally
authorized to act on petitioner’s behalf or to appoint a
representative to do so. They did not appoint Mr. Bergman.
We need not speculate about why Bergman thought he had
continuing authority to sign the Form 872 on behalf of
petitioner, when he clearly (and correctly) understood he had no
such authority to sign the Form 870. His authority to do either
would, in fact, have arisen under the same power of attorney.
Regardless of Mr. Bergman's state of mind, his second letter
should have raised a red flag for respondent, triggering further
investigation. Bergman never tried to hide petitioner’s
condition; indeed, he was explicit about it. The second letter
contains a clear statement of incompetency, sufficient to put
respondent on notice that the power of attorney authorizing
Bergman to represent petitioner was revoked. It was not
reasonable for respondent to continue to deal with him as
petitioner's representative.
Based upon our review of the record, we are satisfied that
as to the Form 872 signed in 1992 there is no genuine issue of
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011