He lives with me and shares utilities and food expenses. I am his POA and do all his financial managing. he has SS and a pension plus dividend income from various sources. I pay his bills and pay the part time caregivers, and keep all his records in order as well as all of his personal shopping. it is time consuming because he has several different accounts. I feel like I have 2 fulltime jobs
My sister is in the process of closing down as many accounts as she can - not the investment ones, just the spending ones - for security as well as to save on paperwork. My mother used to like getting one for every charity she supports, and we have the 3-drawer full size office filing cabinet stuffed to the gills to prove it. Ok I don't envy her that bit.
It is a heck of a job. Can you not persuade your father to streamline things somewhat?
Also be careful to distinguish between claiming back out of pocket expenses (postage, phone calls, travel) which is perfectly legitimate (but keep proper, methodical records); and actually charging a fee for your time, which probably won't be unless it was agreed when the POA was set up. There could, I suppose, be a case to be made for "loss of earnings" as a claimable expense - but don't assume. Ask the lawyer.
This is becoming a real bug-bear for me, the way people merrily take on POA without calculating in advance what the real cost to them will be in terms of time, trouble and money. So that even when the POA process does allow for an agreed rate of compensation for a family member, nobody seems to think it's appropriate to tick that box. And later on, fairly obviously, you can't as the POA just pay yourself whatever salary you like.
You can, as POA, hire people to do the work for your father, which he would then pay for. This would save you time but not money; and you would still be responsible for ensuring that the work was done properly.
He would not compensate himself, though. I would, though. Perhaps people that can't get compensated, might get more of the inheritance eventually. But, who knows when that would be? After my husband's mom and my mom, both leaving their homes around the same time - I would never agree to be POA. If an attorney takes over the finances, you better believe that he gets paid.
As I understand it, the POA agreement can specify that the POA should NOT be paid, or that the POA can be paid for expenses and for time spent for the benefit of the elder. It's probably not so smart to charge for time spent watching TV with dad, but paying his bills seems like work.
My husband is his mother's POA and I agree that it is a full time job.
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