She fell a couple of months ago and I gained access to all her accounts so I could pay her bills. She gave me access. However I have discovered she has accrued a considerable amount of debt. So I have been paying off her debt. I have been paying for about 400.00 of her expenses (cable, phone, 2 medic alert devices, cell phone) for years. I would like to taking over her finances without calling her incompetent. Oh and she has a reverse mortgage on her house. Still not sure why as it appears she should be able to live within her means (less what I pay). I feel the loan agent is a little shady as well.
Carol
A choice is what colour socks do you want to wear the red or the black
A decision is being able to explain the choice and the reason for it and the outcomes (where applicable) of it So I want to wear the red ones because they contrast nicely with my outfit and are thinner and the shoes I want to wear are on the small side and if wear the black ones my toes will feel squashed.
Once you have POA you need to register it with all institutions and that will be a royal pain in the arse let me tell you - Banks are not terribly helpful
Since you already have access to her accounts it should be simple to set up automatic bill payments or do them with online banking, if she finds the actual bills confusing you could have them sent to your house or just go paperless.
Restricting her ability to overspend can be more of a problem, but you could make sure her credit cards have a low limit and place the bulk of her funds in less liquid investments. Have you had a frank chat with her about her finances? Some people haven't a clue how to live within their means, and they don't have to be elderly either!
about who should be in charge of the money. I worked for 3 years as a court investigator for such cases.
Good luck and don't wait. A mental POA has nothing to do with current incompetance . It is designed to address needs in the event of.......
Not like it used to be. Having a local lawyer who can later get involved is helpful since these "bank rules" are often not written..they just don't want to go through the expense and potential exposure of validating the poa. One regional small bank I dealt with had their legal depth review it. No problem . Great. The other was a global commercial bank that wouldn't budge until the lawyer called the manager.
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