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Mom has Alzheimer's and just went into memory care. Selling her home and need to change addresses on all the things. Confused on how to address Social Security benefits for her.

Somethings I’d like to add…. please pls have your Realtor - or the brokerage group the Realtor is affiliated with - as to IF that POA you have fully allows for you to sell her home. You don’t want any surprises, if you can help it.

Also utility companies and cable providers can be quite difficult on letting a non property owner shut off service. So…. if you can try to do whatever needs to be done all on-line. And make sure bills all stay current. Your mom should be paying all property related bills from her own $.

And mom’s homeowners policy will become invalid when & if they find out that she is now a full time resident in a facility. There’s a lot of gray are in how to handle this, just sayin. If they do find out and send a cancellation notice, ideally you want to get a new Vacant Dwelling Policy done and done within the 30 day period before her old policy fully cancels. So that there is no break or gap in coverage. Also if the tax assessor too should find out she has moved, so it is no longer her homestead, her property taxes will likely reset to whatever higher taxes it is for property with no exemptions. So think carefully on this.

If there could be any anticipation that mom might be filing for LTC Medicaid in her future, pls keep all records and receipts related to the upkeep and sale of her home. Medicaid wants it sold at its FMV, which if you going with a Realtor & MLS listing that should take care of that issue. If it’s going to sell for under its FMV, take photos to establish why & save them. If you or others have been paying for stuff for mom, and she has been reimbursing you OR plan is she is going to reimburse from Act of Sale $, having those receipts to show it was not gifting will be good to have. Costs of care are horrendous. It’s really easy for an elder to outlive their money even if they sell their home. They end up filing for LTC Medicaid and it has a 5 yr lookback as to where their $ went. Keep bigger receipts just in case is a good thing.
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Reply to igloo572
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DanicaL May 21, 2025
Super helpful! I do have POA, but was unaware of the homeowner's insurance policy. I am aware of the 5 year look back and have saved all receipts. Thank you!
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If you can set up an account under her name, maybe you make an address change on line.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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I would go to their office. They don't recognize POA. You will have to be registered as representative payee. The duties and the requirements are right on the Social Security site. You will need letter from doctors attesting to the fact that the recipient can no longer manage his/her own SS. You will have reporting duties and etc.
Good luck. The SS site is a very good one.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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Become her Representative Payee. Check with your local Social Security office on how to do this. Same as a POA in that it gives you the authority to manage her Social Security funds for her. You are required to submit annual reports on how the Social Security funds are being used.
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Reply to jgaliano
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You have to become a Representative Payee: https://www.ssa.gov/payee/
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