What to do when my father put the caretaker (aide) as Executor on the Trust?

I have worked as a home health aide for two different agencies. We were not allowed to in any way, shape or form have any hand in a client's financial or personal affairs. It is unprofessional, and in some cases depending on the agency, it is against policy and can result in immediate firing.

My mom had her caregiver change her POA without any family members knowledge. She got a printed DNR form had two church members sign it and sent the home helper to her bank - (without her or the witness's) and had it notorized.
That form showed up when we were trying to transfer mom to an in patient hospice - hopefully to get better- she was 88 and had end stage emphysema and her kidneys and lungs were failing.

It took getting another attorney and paying a 24 hour notary and having one of the people on that form and mother signing another POA before we could get her the help she needed. Mom lived another five weeks and never really explained why she did it- my guess is her borderline personality and that she sometimes did things out of anger before she thought it out.

We miss our mom - difficult as she was- loved her - but makes me question home helpers and also how and why a bank can be in the business of notorizing a DNR without the person or witness there. Their position is that they just verified her signature- and the home helper- well the agency said if mom was of sound mind then there wasn't anything they could do. Maybe not- but morally wrong - mom would have died within two days if we had not been able to undo that form .

My father has Alzheimer's and has ended up in a nursing home. My question is that my stepmother hired an attorney and had my father sign papers giving her poa and I am not sure what else. I would like to know what my rights are since now my stepmother is very ill and I don't want to ask her what who she has left in charge because according to the paralegal it is not me. I am not sure how she could have legally gotten the papers signed when my father didnt even know me last summer when I was in their home. I live in another state and I am not sure how to go about finding out my rights and knowing that she has done things that aren't legal.

Highly unethical, report the aid, call your state's attorney general's office to report this issue. If this aide is employed to an agency and not someone your Dad hired on his own, it is highly likely this can be undone. I volunteered in a nursing home and learned from training that there are scammers in every capacity of health care. Thank God most are honest hardworking people, but we had your same experience as you and the state had no law against it because she only worked as a food server but still she was 46 and Elder was 87 and of course he thought it was love.

Laws often try to protect elders from [potentially?] predatory Home Care Workers--exactly because of cases like this.
You need to see what those laws in your State are.

IT needs reported.
UNfortunately, the Agency that hires the Worker, if they simply fire the Worker, fails to resolve the problem.
...and, once fired, the Worker can virtually disappear, still retaining whatever legal grasp they have on the Elder's estate, & making it very hard to serve them with legal papers for court proceedings..

IF the Elder has not been diagnosed with dementia yet:
==he can make ANYone his Executor, sole heir, etc. if they want, no contest.
Paperwork can be so tightly written, as to make it impossible for family to restore things to proper heirs.
Once a reported Worker is fired, they are no longer in conflict of interest with their job as a Home Care Worker.

OTH, IF the Elder =had been diagnosed= on record, w/ dementia, PRIOR to the Aide Worker being written in as his Executor or heir, the Worker's case can be challenged & those documents more likely broken.

More info needed about when Dad was diagnosed with Dementia,
and when the Worker got written into his legal papers.

You need to talk to an Elder Care Lawyer--
Please contact your nearest Area Agency on Aging, to see if you can get in with one of the free lawyers for 1/2 hr there--to start.

Sad thing is, mostly, people are NOT diagnosed soon enough to protect them from predatory workers, lawyers or relatives.
It is very common for elders suffering "the beginning stages" or even "moderate stages", of dementias, to be led by the hand to unscrupulous lawyers, to get papers drawn up favoring the predatory persons.
I've seen people leading some pretty far-gone elders to sign legal papers changing estates.
Some lawyers make a =very= nice living, collecting "plum estates", even passing those on to one or more of their children who are also lawyers, to managed--it's very lucrative--highly unethical, totally illegal, but being done, even so.

Immediately call Adult Protective Services and the Attorney General. Both can be done anonymously. Let them investigate to make sure that he is not being exploited. Also I agree with above that you should call the aides company. In most states it is illegal for a paid caregiver to be a DPOA.

According to elder lawyer: A will and a trust are two separate documents. A trust only governs the assets that are held in the trust. Meaning the bank accounts would have the owner be the trust. The will only governs the assets in the individuals name (not in the trust). The trust and the will do not "override" each other--they work side by side by differently.

Also a will is public record but a trust is private and does not get filed.

If the individual passed away and had accounts in his/her own name that would be governed by the will and the will can disinherit someone. If the person passed away but had not assets in his name but instead had his assets in the Trust, the will is not considered and the trust is what governs those assets

Talked with my attorney husband, and a Trust trumps a Will. Get a Trust (especially when there is property) which will keep you out of Probate, make a Codicil (an addendum) to appoint your Executor (male)/Executrix (female) which describe what their duties are. Wills are useful, but can be overridden if the person's competence is in question. Hope this helps.

Debbie2... You said your Dad has the beginnings of dementia. Unless his doctor has declared him incompetent I would assume he can name whoever he wants as an executor, etc. Has he actually been diagnosed with Alzheimer's or another form of dementia? If so, this would probably make a difference and you should seek some type of legal council to find out what can be done. If this is a trust that will be used to pay for your Dad's medical care down the line, it needs to be maintained by someone who will use it for that and only that. If this aide works for a home health company, etc., it would probably also be illegal for her to agree to do this, if she agreed. You need to contact the place she works for and find out. In the town I live in (Texas) we've had several instances in the last year or so of home aides embezzling money from their patients by writing checks to themselves, etc., leaving the patient with next to nothing. It happens. It might not happen in your Dad's case, but it happens. You need to do some investigating.

We didn't know my father had a POA and that my name was also on it till after he died. My sister who was aalso on the POA took advantage of dad by paying her bills out of his account and making him pay $900.00 a month to stay with her and charging him when he was staying with me.

You give us little information, but if one has not been declared incompetent by doctors, then they may choose whomever they wish to act as Executrix(Executor), DPOA, POA for their affairs. If your father trusts his aide 100% as you state, then that is his choice. You are not the first daughter or family member to be cut out of decisions. My own brother left his part of our mother's estate to our one sister and did not give a dime to his two daughters. Try to honor your father by accepting his choice, and try to cooperate with the aide. Honey gets you far more than vinegar!

HI, my dad is 75 W/ dementia also had an aide who got into his heart and head. I called her supervisor let her know what the aide was doing. She was fired turns out here in Illinois its illegal for a person in charge of anothers well being to be their POA. I guess it gives shady people bad ideas. Find out if its even legal.

As far as I know, a regular does not need a lawyer, it needs to be signed and notarized, and a witness or two is good, and the revocation is the same, letter signed by person, notarized and witnessed, it is the durable poa that needs the lawyer. This site has addressed this issue. In matters of such nature, I find it most usual to get legal advice as opposed to perhaps this or that, it is worth the money, as I have said before, sometimes you really don't want to chase a tail, at least the older that I get, I realize there are some things that you can be penny wise and pound foolish in.

Hi - sorry but Im not sure i have an answer BUT having just gone through revision of my mother"s POA the lawyers were diligent in ensuring she was "capable" to make the decision to protect her and themselves. I have seen a few issues in this vein on this website and it would be good to have some expert advice on this site in terms of this issue. I might be wrong but it seems too easy over there in the northern hemisphere for older people to get or change POAs. What are the rules particularly in terms of the obligations of lawyers where evidence of dementia exists etc or really where it is not. This is a constant issue raised on this website. Some expert input would be good. When I took Mum to change her POA the lawyers were extremely cautious to ensure that she understood, had an independent person who was a long term friend etc with her etc and that I as the ultimate POA was not present.

This site has excellent information on different kinds of trusts, search for it. I think a will over rides a trust, are you executor of his will? Anyhow you give little information so it is hard to say, you should talk to his lawyer or your lawyer, he is competent and had a reason to do what he did, find out what the reason is for a start.