My father wants to be at home in his last days as he is in hospice and does not want to go into a home as he wants home care.
All his money is in stocks, cds and some in a checking account. I have POA and am the will executor his will states that all his money goes to a beneficiary that is a charity and I get his his residence.
How do I access the stocks etc to pay for his last days and what do I need to do so?
I am not paying his bills yet but once hospice ups his meds in a day or two I will have to as he can hardly walk anymore and is always out of breath.
I also worry about who ever takes care of him using his credit cards etc as they will have access to it and he leaves his stocks statements laying around for anyone to see.
I have been thinking about enrolling him in online banking etc so I would get a text if anything is moved or spent.
Any advice would be great.
I was under the impression the lawyer keeps them to they are needed and that you would need a Doctors note.
we got 2 sets of original DPOA & MPOA done at atty office, so the signatures were all blue ink and each with thier own notary seal, so you could feel that seal was raised. 1 set we took & the other remained in office file. Now the will & later it’s codicil, it was 1 original only and we got 2 copies. That atty actually retired and we got a certified letter from atty who acquired that part of his practice and letter said we could come & get the original or new guy would retain it and then become the atty for probate. Mom lived into backside of her 90’s and her will / codicil went thru this twice. Fun! I think it’s standard that if the atty has retired, they have to contact you, or do some sort of Notice in the newspaper as to the disposition of documents that firm had and where you can retrieve them.
If you have his POA, you can legally put passwords or pin numbers on all of his credit cards so they cannot be used without it. I don't know if your father has dementia or not. If he doesn't, then you should keep in mind whatever bank accounts or credit cards he has belong to him and he can spend his money if he wants to. I wouldn't worry about his stock statements laying around because no one taking care of him in the house will be able to access those assets. Let the financial group he has these holdings in know what his condition is and that you are now in charge as his POA. They will ask for a copy of the POA and may ask for proof of him being incapacitated, although I did not have to produce anything from a doctor when I liquidated my father's stocks as his POA.
If you aren't able to regularly stop in on your father while he is under care at home, then it would be a good idea to find someone you trust who will. A friend or a family member.
Hopefully your dad is with an old school wire-house type of financial advisor group that has real stockbrokers as you can call your dads broker and dad can speak with them to start the paperwork needed to have you be able to deal with dads portfolio. If he has a relationship aka he has an active account, he will probably will be able to do e-sig or the broker makes a house call w documents for dad to sign.
On the CDs, JoAnn is right abt how to deal with. But perhaps first look at the CD renewal date, most banks put them on auto, and then dad lets the bank know by certified 30 days ahead of renewal that he will not be rolling them over but instead will have then go into the acct that your signature on. At least you keep the paltry interest till the very end!
His CC & other financial info, find what you can and put into a binder and take it home with you.
Id suggest that you call his atty ASAP to have the atty review his file to see if anything needs to be updated.
If you are uncertain about how to do POA and how to pay bills as POA you need to learn this. It isn't difficult but there ARE THINGS TO LEARN and you must know them. Be certain your sign checks, after you register your POA with bank as your father's name, by your name "as POA".
Do see an attorney to learn how to do what you must do now.
Hospice is paid for by medicare. But there may be other costs at home. Cash in CDs and learn what will be needed for stocks. It is not easy with them and a lot of paper work. You may want to consider hiring a fiduciary to do this work, about 90.00 an hour, and again, this is paid for out of your Dad's funds.
With CDs your Dad may have gotten a 1099 for the interest he received so that income gets counted on his taxes for that year. If no 1099, then taxes will have to be paid when cashed in.
Stocks maybe a problem. When I had shares transferred to me, I needed a Medallon from the bank. So call the people who hold the stocks to see what you need to do. If no 1099 is received yearly then taxes will need to be paid when he files.
I just want to be sure i can use his money to pay for it before it goes to charity. I guess i need to talk to his lawyer who made his will and POA. Dad did very well so it is a lot of money.
I feel like i should already be managing his bills but not sure if i'm allowed to.
He also has a leased car that he can no longer drive. I don't like it sitting there costing him money.
He is not on morphine yet but already on oxygen and wheelchair bound.
As his executor, once he passes, it's your responsibility to see that his assets are distributed according to his wishes AFTER all of his debts have been settled. If his debts exceed his assets, then whatever charity he designated funds to in his will is out of luck. Being executor doesn't make you financially responsible for paying his debts out of YOUR pocket. And nothing gets distributed until you, the executor, is sure there are no more debts pending.
If dad only has a will, you are going to have to go through probate before you can distribute anything, and that can take time. If dad has his assets in trust, it can be a much shorter process. But since you are very unsure of the procedures either way, speaking to a lawyer is a very good idea.
Good luck.
I was able to go with my dad to Schwab immediately after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and talk to his adviser. He told the adviser I was now in charge, plus he and my mother both resigned from their trust so I could take over as Trustee. It still took a few weeks to get Schwab's POA paperwork through their legal department, because no, they wouldn't accept the attorney-prepared POA we had in hand. The same happened with his bank, too, but at least he'd put me on the bank account already, so I could sign checks without interruption.
At this point, I think you should just cancel Dad's credit cards if you have his numbers and leave the rest until he's gone. I assume you aren't where he is, but if you are, get them out of the house along with any statements you can find and cancel them. I'd also freeze his credit immediately with all the reporting agencies. You can do that online.
Another biggie to do now if it's possible and your dad can help -- get his passwords for every online and email account he might have. We actually have that in our own POAs we did with our attorney -- permission to have access to one another's passwords.
However, try to spend time with your dad first and foremost. The rest can wait.
Next - if you have POA, I would call the financial institution that holds his stocks and ask how you would go about selling some of the assets. If you could have your dad with you when you make the call, and if he's lucid enough to be able to identify himself to the agent, that would be helpful, because not all financial institutions "recognize" a POA that isn't theirs (I know this has been a problem with banks at time, so it wouldn't surprise me if the stock holding institutions are the same). Before my mom passed, I had to call several of her account holders to update information; once they spoke to her and she gave them permission over the phone to talk to me, I was able to take care of her accounts. I have a feeling that it will be easier to liquidate his stocks than to try and cash out any CD's early, plus there shouldn't be any sort of penalty to liquidate his stocks. He might have to pay a penalty if any of the CD's are cashed out early.
Enrolling him in online banking will make things much easier for you as far as bill paying is concerned - I was able to pay all of my mom's bills from her computer without having to explain myself over and over to banking officials about why my mom couldn't do it. It also showed exactly where her money was going, in case that would ever have become a problem after she had passed with settling her estate.
While it is kind of him to leave his money to charity, that cannot start until he has taken care of his OWN bills and responsibilites.
He needs to be made aware that some stocks or cd's need to be liquidated to provide for his care. Yes, it will cut into the amount of money he's leaving behind--but he needs to allow you to act as POA and access these funds. Sooner rather than later! If he is entering hospice soon, you'd better get right on this. If he is under the influence of morphine--anything he does can be subject to scrutiny.
Keep impeccable records. And good luck to you.