[HighWheeler]

"It has always been my understanding that power-of-attorney ends with the death of the person, and that the will, if any, is then invoked. Am I correct?"

Looks like you are correct, and your husband's aunts are in a big-ol'-heep-o'-trouble. In effect, they may be guilty of "conversion" which is the legal term for taking possession of something that is not theirs to take.

[Trust but Verify]

The aunt used the POA to gain access to the bank accounts of grandma and distributed everything. She and her sister took anything of value from the house and left us with the rest. She knew and never told my husband he was the executor. Both of them had copies of the will but we did not. For the past year we have been paying the expenses of the house out of our own pockets. Property taxes, insurance, utilities, lawn care, snow removal.