Can the POA of my mother in law place someone in the family home as a care taker? This person is known only to the POA and not my mother-in-law or any other family member.
Yes, POA is to do whatever is necessary to tend to her business. This situation is not a democracy and doesn't require transparency.
I had house that was empty for about a year while trying to sell it. My homeowner's insurance went through the roof, nearly $5,000.00 a year because nobody lived there. It did not matter, not one little bit, that it would be checked on a few times a week. Too much risk with empty homes.
Ah but in the state of MI if those whom are stated in the well requeste written information from the POA it must be given. Also a POA cab hire caretaker however has no right to give caretaker a place to live. Since POA end upon MIL death and house is in trust. The trustee then needs to remove them. BIL is not trusee husband is
So. The family home has been empty for a year since your FIL sadly passed away, leaving your BIL - whom your MIL made deputy - to take over the power of attorney for your mother-in-law. MIL is in long term care and there is no suggestion that she will ever be able to return to the family home. The home forms part of a trust.
Your BIL's responsibility is to manage your MIL's finances and property in her best interests. Of course I couldn't possibly know, but it may be - depending on what the house is like - that actually the most cost-effective way of maintaining the house is to have somebody living in it and taking care of it. Insurers would like it; and it would avoid the mustiness and dilapidation that tends to happen when a home is left unoccupied. Certainly there could be advantages.
What's your husband's main objection to this arrangement? Why is he taking such a dim view of it? What would he prefer?
Well first because BIL never even told anyone he was looking to do so, second no one even knows these people, third we have no idea if a back ground check was done on them. While it may be true it might be good to have someone in the home, however as POA from what we understand he is only able to hire a caretaker not house them. The home still has personal belongings within it. MIL can't make any decisions at all.
Yes, in a well written POA form this authority could be given. It doesn’t matter if MIL doesn’t know him, as POA should only be acting if MIL doesn’t have the ability to make decisions anyway. Not trying to be rude, but it doesn’t matter if anyone else knows the person either.
If you have a legal case that BIL is NOT acting in the best interest of MIL’s assets, instead of just not being happy with what he is doing, that is when you can do something about it.
Marlye, Caretaker of Property, (not providing patient care), sounds like garden and house maintenance, or groundskeeper. This job does not usually come with housing or a room.
If your Mom resides in the home, this would be an invasion of privacy. Can you give us more details?
If your Mom is in a facility (like a nursing home), and plans to return, this seems to me to be a conflict of interest by the POA, and a way to get their person paid or provide them housing.
However, I have heard of a lady and her daughter who took on temporary assignments to watch the properties, display them for sale, providing security for the property, etc. for free while living there. Is the home listed for sale?
Is the POA a family member, or a paid professional? How is it that your Mil chose this POA? (She would have needed to give her POA to a trusted person, unless she has a conservator or a guardian).
If you lived (or are living in the home) and want the home as yours based upon a caregiver exemption (providing care for years), there is another scenario. You may need an attorney of your own.
So many possible scenarios, as you can see. Can you tell us more?
Note: A POA is required by law to make wise fiduciary decisions on behalf of the person, in their best interests, for the person, not against the person.
The POA is one of her sons that she chose before going into mental health hospital to get her medicine right. She and dad lived there sine 1962 and she was placed into an assisted living home in 2017 and dad was the POA until he passed in June of 2018. He did however try to get the son to step down as the son had talked to the doctors to get them to lower the medicine. He refused to do so causing dad to be tearful that he wouldn't do right by mom. The family home was to be placed into the trust, however it was left in a lady bird and moved to trust. Brother-in-law has full POA . So he had choose to allow someone to move into the home as "caretaker" we actually have no other details from him. He is to mow the lawn and keep the property safe, is what we thought. The home has been empty for a year now. Mom will NOT be moving back there, her mental state to far gone for that.
I'm re-reading this and while it may not matter in the current situation it might make a difference in the way things are taking shape if there was misinformation or misunderstanding before FIL passed. You say here that FIL was MIL POA until he passed in June 2018 yet BIL was making medication decisions (contrary to what FIL wanted) sometime in 2017. Was BIL the chosen secondary POA for mom in the event of FIL's death or was he given either full or shared power and responsibility? It doesn't make sense to me that BIL would be able to make decisions or requests contrary to his fathers wishes if FIL was indeed primary POA and spouse unless of course he wasn't considered competent. Might it be that FIL wasn't understanding things correctly or simply anxious about anything important and having to do with his wife's care, warranted or not? I may be all wrong here, I don't have a clear picture of how close you and DH are in proximity and involved directly with the medical professionals etc. If you are getting the information 3rd party FIL's very real fears may not have been based on anything credible, maybe BIL was right because the medication was causing side effects or maybe he just asked during an appointment with the doctor (which FIL also attended) for the same reason or simply to get a better understanding of it all. I could certainly see myself asking a question like that about my moms meds, in fact I have. After many meds were changed among other things because of her stroke and heart issues I inquired about lowering one of her depression meds because one of it's side effects was making a patient sleep/lack of energy. She had been on 2 medications overseen by a psychiatrist for years and it was a nurse in rehab who made a comment about how much of this one med she was taking in the morning. So later after she had been home and went back to the therapist I asked about trying to lower the dose to see if it might make a difference in her energy. He agreed and we lowered it slightly twice before deciding to stay there for a while and indeed she was needing less sleep through the day and was less foggy, more aware, we also changed her dosing so she takes half in the morning and half at night now. Could it be BIL was trying to figure out something like this and FIL just wasn't understanding why he was asking the question or BIL never bothered explaining his thoughts or concerns to FIL?
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So sorry that you are having this challenge with your Mil care. There will be caregivers coming alongside you soon, maybe they can give you some good answers. Sounds like your Bil is a bully!
MaaMaaa, does your husband have reason to be concerned that his brother would place someone in the family home among your MIL's possessions without checking out the person he is leaving in charge? Is that the kind of thing he tends to do?
You say that you don't know this person and you don't know whether your BIL has run appropriate checks on him. Well - surely the first step is to ask your BIL about it. If you do so nicely, perhaps he will be happy to set your minds at rest.
Just a sidebar.....if the family is not okay with the son who has POA, he can be removed if he ever had a criminal record/felony conviction. Same with son's choice for caretaker....any felonies?
You are wise to be looking out for your Mil, wanting what is right for her. Where does your own husband stand on this concern you have?
Depends on whether or not Mom is still able to make her own decisions. A POA only has the authority to carry out the primary's wishes not make their own decisions unless the primary agrees. If the primary )your MIL) is no longer able to make decisions and has been deemed incapable of that and the original POA is also a DPOA once all parameters for that transition are met then yes he has the authority to hire a care taker, any one he wants. If however the POA was not set up to become Durable or it wasn't drawn up in a state where POA is always also a DPOA he may not be able to do that without family support and of course the support of Mom. At least that's my understanding of the way it works and the way it does for us. Now all three siblings in my case have POA but there is a process for decisions we don't all agree on, it's all in writing and basically we all requested the way it's structured but your in-laws might have set something like that up, you never know.
It sounds like the opportunity was missed somehow when your FIL wanted to change things, it sounds like he could have unless I'm reading it wrong and he was declared incompetent by doctors by then that may be why the attorney (I'm hoping one was consulted) discouraged it.
I had house that was empty for about a year while trying to sell it. My homeowner's insurance went through the roof, nearly $5,000.00 a year because nobody lived there. It did not matter, not one little bit, that it would be checked on a few times a week. Too much risk with empty homes.
Your BIL's responsibility is to manage your MIL's finances and property in her best interests. Of course I couldn't possibly know, but it may be - depending on what the house is like - that actually the most cost-effective way of maintaining the house is to have somebody living in it and taking care of it. Insurers would like it; and it would avoid the mustiness and dilapidation that tends to happen when a home is left unoccupied. Certainly there could be advantages.
What's your husband's main objection to this arrangement? Why is he taking such a dim view of it? What would he prefer?
While it may be true it might be good to have someone in the home, however as POA from what we understand he is only able to hire a caretaker not house them. The home still has personal belongings within it.
MIL can't make any decisions at all.
If you have a legal case that BIL is NOT acting in the best interest of MIL’s assets, instead of just not being happy with what he is doing, that is when you can do something about it.
Caretaker of Property, (not providing patient care), sounds like garden and house maintenance, or groundskeeper. This job does not usually come with housing or a room.
If your Mom resides in the home, this would be an invasion of privacy.
Can you give us more details?
If your Mom is in a facility (like a nursing home), and plans to return, this seems to me to be a conflict of interest by the POA, and a way to get their person paid or provide them housing.
However, I have heard of a lady and her daughter who took on temporary assignments to watch the properties, display them for sale, providing security for the property, etc. for free while living there. Is the home listed for sale?
Is the POA a family member, or a paid professional? How is it that your Mil chose this POA? (She would have needed to give her POA to a trusted person, unless she has a conservator or a guardian).
If you lived (or are living in the home) and want the home as yours based upon a caregiver exemption (providing care for years), there is another scenario. You may need an attorney of your own.
So many possible scenarios, as you can see. Can you tell us more?
Note: A POA is required by law to make wise fiduciary decisions on behalf of the person, in their best interests, for the person, not against the person.
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So sorry that you are having this challenge with your Mil care.
There will be caregivers coming alongside you soon, maybe they can give you some good answers. Sounds like your Bil is a bully!
You say that you don't know this person and you don't know whether your BIL has run appropriate checks on him. Well - surely the first step is to ask your BIL about it. If you do so nicely, perhaps he will be happy to set your minds at rest.
You are wise to be looking out for your Mil, wanting what is right for her. Where does your own husband stand on this concern you have?
I am sending you a private message.
Where would I see the private message?
It sounds like the opportunity was missed somehow when your FIL wanted to change things, it sounds like he could have unless I'm reading it wrong and he was declared incompetent by doctors by then that may be why the attorney (I'm hoping one was consulted) discouraged it.