My Mom's bank wants my name on her account. Could the creditors take money from my Mom's account?

whatdoido, having POA for your husband gives you the authority to use his funds in the bank for his care. How advanced is his Alzheimers?

I have spent all my saving on running the home and now husband has Alzheimer and I have to care for him and he flaunt all his excess funds gambling and infedility and gifts to others but I forgave and he has funds in bank I,m afraid to touch and need the help what recourse do I have ihave poa for him

Letter of Testament is a legal document that gives the executor of the will the power to probate the estate of the deceased. All probatable assets cannot be touched until the County Probate court initiates the Letter of Testament to the executor stated in the Official Will.

I would first find out the reason why your mother's bank wants your name on her account, which I assume would be a joint account. There are practical reasons, such as being able to pay her bills if she's unable. I'm a joint signatory on my father's account and I would never relinquish that authority as I've had to use it not only to pay bills but to monitor the account.

I assume your concern about creditors would be yours, rather than your mother's? Without prying, do you have a legitimate reason to be concerned (i.e., do you have significant debt, are you in default on your obligations, etc.)? I'm not prying - it's none of my business, but it is a factor to be considered if that's your concern.

Lastly, having worked in elder law firms and knowing that there there are such a range of protections, I would raise your concerns with one of the bankers, a manager perhaps, and find out specifically how potential situations of concern would be handled. If there's a risk factor for your creditors' access, you might want to talk to ask the banker for another workable option, or talk to an elder law attorney to find out a better method. Believe me, it's worth the cost to get a professional involved now.

Some communities have free legal advice for seniors, and there are also legal aide societies that might be able to help you. In my state, there's an elder law organization which provides excellent free advice to seniors.

Good luck in resolving this issue.

TCofMa, I saw one of these also, and have signed one for my hubby's long term care insurance - but then I was paying that anyways. I pay all our bills pretty much even if hubby's name is on them. The idea is that a critical insurance would not lapse just when you needed it not to lapse the most. If you were put in a position to pay it, you would probably be in a position to cancel it if no longer needed. Check with your estate planner or lawyer first though if circumstances are not clear.

Interestingly enough my mother's home and car insurance co wants her to name another person (family member most likely) that would be responsible for covering her insurance premiums should she not be able to pay them herself. I've not heard of this before. So far they haven't pressed issue other than with a letter attached with her yearly insurance renewal. I live with her now, so should I sign this document anyway? I know she has enough money to take care of her expenes like that. I am taking care of the food and utility bills and other sundrys which helps her out. Once she passes I will inherit everything she has and all that insurance stuff will change anyway. Is this a normal practice for insurance companies? What should I do?

no

Is a Letter of Testament the same thing as a death certificate?

As executor of the estate, the bank should have allowed you to create an account, saying it is the estate of your mom's name. Then, those bills can be payed out of that account. I think that I would ask someone higher up in the bank to look at the will and let you act as the executor of your mom's estate.

I want to share my experience as my Mom passed away last month. I was POA but that was terminated at her death. I had her will naming me as executor of her estate to pay final expenses. The bank did not recognize the will would not even look at it. I was writing checks for the expenses at the pharmacy. She passed on 7th they froze her account on the 13th. Non payment of bills were then sent to collections. I was told I needed a Letter of Testament to set up an estate account of course that would have been a lawyer fee. I am thankful we went ahead and pain for her funeral the day she went into Hospice. I called my Lawyer and she told me since all 3 of us were POD just to get the money and split the expenses. I wanted to give some to the church but was not able to before the split of the funds. Mom thought she had it set up that I could pay her bills not sure if things are different from state to state but they would not even let me set up online banking for her. It is so sad that you are faced with these situations when you are also grieving over your loss.

I am Mom's Representative and she is my Ward on the bank account. I have POA

Re shipping remains, as at the saying goes, 'anything is possible if you can afford to pay for it'. Cremation is often not an option of someone is opposed to being cremated. My dad for example would never go for that; he believes it is not morally right and no one should go against someone's final wishes.

pami, the bank can have you listed on the account as payable on death (POD). I did that with Mom's account. I did not put my name on the account but we signed a document at the bank that said when she dies, I then have access to the account to pay bills or pay out inheritance, etc. (There's nothing to inherit, but whatever.) Meanwhile, I log online for her and pay her bills, check her balance, etc.

Regarding transferring remains...you pay for shipping. Essentially, human remains are cargo, with a bunch of extra requirements (documentation, container specifications, etc.) Your funeral home should be well versed in handling the details. I'd expect to pay anywhere from several hundred to more than a thousand dollars. A funeral home in the town where she'll be buried should make the arrangements (or you can make them yourself). Because you know this is going to be an issue, you should take the opportunity to shop around and research now, so you'll be prepared.

A more practical solution would be to have your mom cremated (if she's agreeable to that). Then, you personally can take them or ship them to the cemetery. They can be buried in the plot just as a casket would be. In fact, many deeds for plots now contain the number of caskets, plus number of cremated remains that can be buried in them.

Set it up as a trustee account for the benefit of your mother. Then you can write checks and the account is for her care, etc. There is no big deal in getting this set up. The bank can do it for you. You can also make that payable to you upon her death.

Yea we will have talk to the bank again. One other question my mom cemetery plot is in sandeigo and wants to be buried thre. She lives in colorado with me now. Do some mortuaries pay for the coffin tobe transfered there.

You can go online to a site like legalzoom and do your own POA. The site walks you through the process and then you print it out and go to a notary with two witnesses and your mom to sign it. You should do it as soon as possible. It will come in very handy should your mom be incapacitated in any way.

If your mother has a lot of assets and investments, you'd do well to visit with an attorney who specializes in elder law. It would be well worth a few hundred dollars for the consultation if you're trying to protect a sizable estate. If your mom has very little money and other assets, caregiver14 is right, but I'd still get the POA taken care of. I did one on legalzoom and I think it cost less than $20. It was later looked at by an attorney who said it was just as good as what she would have done.

As someone already pointed out (but I'll repeat because it's VERY important), whenever you sign anything with your own signature for your mom, be sure to include "as POA for" and your mom's name. A hospital, nursing home, surgicenter, etc, will ask you to sign as the "responsible party." DON'T do it. Sign FOR your mom. If your finances are already a mess, you sure don't want them made worse by someone coming after you for your mother's medical debt.

If it is possible, have your mother make you her Power of Attorney and use that instead of being on the account. It would have to be a joint account and that is not good except for H&W. Make sure the POA is a Durable one.

Since the POA does end with her death and you want to be able to pay her remaining bills, another option is to have a POD (payable on death) on her bank account. The bank will set this up with your mother's approval.

There are two ways that your name can be on the account:
a. As a joint account holder. When you do this, this becomes your account as well as hers, subject to your creditors and such.
b. As POA, which means that you have power over the account but that these are not your funds.

There are risks to putting your name on an account. If you were to get in debt for some reason, like a law suit, they could go after the money in your mother's account. Anything with your name on it will be considered as belonging to you.

There are benefits to having your name on the account. First, it makes transactions seamless and gives you online access to accounts. Second, it allows you to withdraw the money after your mother dies, so avoids probate. The POA ends at the time of death and funds have to go through probate, handled by the executor/trix of the will. Probate can be avoided by having the name of the account with "payable on death" (POD) chosen. I'm not sure if a POD is possible if you aren't on the account. Someone else probably knows. That would be nice, since it would take away the inconveniences of having POA instead of your name on the account.

The POA terminates at death, then goes to executor responsibilities to liquidate assets, pay bills and distribute any remaining assets to beneficiaries.

POA is fine, just make sure you always write POA after your name so they don't try to bill you. The bank has their own forms for making you a signatory only. NEVER combine funds or open joint accounts. It can make things very messy.

I think they also want me on it so when she dies I can pay the Bills and take out money. I know with a POA you can do that as well. This is so very new to me, but I am learning as I go along.

I am like a POA right now. I go online and transfer money from her saving account to her to her regular bank account. I also pay her bills online. She isnt really computer savy, she is learning the ropes. I agree wqith all of you not to put my name on teh account. Do we have to go to a lawyer to sign papers for me to be a POA. My mom wants me tp be the POA.

Pam, my cousin had her name on some of her mom's credit cards, and because she did that she inherited the debt on those that was not rightfully hers. The real question is why the bank wants your name on there, are they thinking they can hold you responsible for overdrafts? would you be on just as POA? Creditors can't typically just "take" money in a bank account, but they can present checks or charges and if there is not enough money to cover you and your mom get socked with returned check and or overdraft fees, sometimes on a daily basis. I did not ever put my name on my parent's accounts, just signed checks as myname, POA for theirname and used online bill pay on their behalf.