Despite everything the hospital and rehabs have told me to do including sending her home from the rehab. The rehab actually taking her home and dropping her off without the proper medical equipment and then piling it all on me. Now as I have asked multiple times for help, they would tell me that I needed to apply for home care and I did and then they said that I wasn't applying for the right home care. Then I would have to order medical equipment and I would order the equipment and the squatter at my mom's house would have it sent away and despite everything that I have done it has somehow been wrong. They tell me one thing and then say no. That's not right. You got to do this and now they have took guardianship of my mother despite the fact that I told them that I did not want that and I was going to be speaking with other family members to take over my dpoa since I was having much trouble and she was not being billed to her Medicare at all. So they are saying that she has a significant out of pocket bill and they kept threatening to take her home and I feel that because of her owing money due to the negligence of them not sending the bill to Medicare or whatever the situation was they had it already set in stone that they was going to take my mom's house because her equity was so good in it and she almost had it paid off and now I didn't get no papers assigned or anything and they I just received mail document stating that guardianship has been took on my mother. I am beyond furious and I know I let my mother down and I do not know how to fix this. This is absolutely outrageous and then I couldn't even move into her house even though I'm the caregiver because she has a squatter living there. That's dangerous and we've called the police and the police won't do nothing. They said that we have to file eviction so I have begun that process but it's still going to take time and the hospital knew that and they refused to wait because she's been in there for 3 weeks almost and they would not send her to a short-term rehab because they said that her insurance would not pay for it and I appealed it they denied it. What do I do now? How do I keep my mother's house? The state doesn't deserve it. The squatter don't deserve it. She has children and grandchildren and herself that deserves it. That would help pay for some of her bills but there's got to be something I can do
How long was Mom in? Only 20 days is covered 100%. the 80 to 100 allowed only 50%. That 50% can add up.
You may think your doing everything in a timely manner but the facility wants Mom out because she is costing them money. That bed could go to someone who can pay. Call your Office of Aging and see if there is someone there who can help you manuver around all this. I do suggest you switch Mom from a MA to traditional Medicare with a supplimental. O of A should be able to help you do this. Open enrollment is coming up. With Medicare it does not matter where you go as long as they take Medicare. With MAs your locked in with their providers.
How lon
My mom started with an Advantage plan so we have had to stick with it as she has three major diagnoses now. However, I do careful research each year so I know what is covered etc and make sure her doctor is on it as well as a nearby hospital. For those who don’t know much about insurance, it can be a huge challenge. The one saving grace is there are out of pocket maximums even for “out of network” doctors and facilities. Usually around 10k for out of network and around $3-5k for in network. So far, she is still paying out of pocket only rarely and in 3 years we haven’t paid out the max yet even when she was in the hospital for 12 days and rehab for 21.
If this is what happened, then That guardian is now in charge of the decision making for mom and for the assets of moms if they need to be drawn from / utilized for her care. In many ways this can become an ideal situation as that guardian can get things done more efficiently and effectively than you can. The issues for the hospital and her health care providers is that in their estimation so far you as the POA have not shown to be able to understand and follow through on what is needed for your mom to have safe and secure discharge from the hospital. So in an abundance of caution, APS was contacted and then they determined the situation warranted a Ward placement.
My guess is Mom being a Ward is not yet permanent. This was an emergency/ interim placement. There will be a hearing before a judge on this. Guardianships are usually heard b4 probate court judges. If you want to have the guardian removed, you absolutely have to have your own attorney who is experienced in guardianships and has done cases before the exact judge presiding over mom’s guardianship process. Being appointed Guardian is rarely a DIY project, I’ve spent a lot of time sitting in probate court and have only seen the DIY approach work when 1. the POA was being deployed & wanted a guardianship done and 2. when the guardian themselves had a significant health issue and wanted a change of guardianship done. For you to become guardian, you would use your own $ to hire this attorney but if successful then the costs can be repaid to you from moms assets. If your background has issues, it may be best to have another family member file for guardianship for your mom instead.
Please pls pls try to be civil and calm when dealing with mom and her guardian. Ask what you can do to help the guardian if need be and then 100% do it and do it in a timely manner.
Also you may want to write down a timeline on the squatter situation and in detail. If they are going “adverse possession” for their ability to legally do this, they have had a long long history with that house and your mom. Adverse possession in my understanding requires about 10 years of a continuous activity with the property.
They had no right to proceed with a guardianship hearing without the DPOA being informed of the proceedings. The DPOA has a legal right to be present and to hear why guardianship is being petitioned for. Many times the reasons are complete nonsense. Such as the DPOA questions a bill and refuses to pay charges that aren't owed. Or they see a piece of real estate with no mortgage or a very small one and they want it.
The DPOA has rights also. Too many times a greedy facility will make sure their lawyer doesn't inform a DPOA that they're being challenged so they lose by default because they don't show up.
Who is the "they" that took guardianship over your mother? The facility she's in? I had this experience with the facility my parent was in. I did not let them get away with it.
By law there MUST be a court-hearing before a judge in order for anyone to override your DPOA and get guardianship over anyone. You would have been given official court-ordered document as her DPOA which would inform you that the facility was challenging your DPOA and petitioning for guardianship over her. They would also have to explain to the judge the reasons why. You did not appear in court to explain yourself and what was happening. So, you lost by default and guardianship was awarded. You can contest this and should because it's illegal.
Second, it is not up to family members to order specialty medical equipment and bill Medicare themselves. A nurse or physical therapist (arranged by the rehab or hospital) is supposed to do an assessment of the home the patient is going back to. Then THEY order whatever equipment is necessary and take care of billing. That's not up to you. I know this because I was a homecare worker for 25 years and now have a homecare business. I deal with nursing, PT, and social services every day and will tell you it's like trying to herd cats with these people.
Take it one step at a time. Do not allow these people to have any access to your mother's finances or property no matter what they threaten.
Get yourself a consultation with an attorney who specializes in elder law. First consultations are always free. Tell them what has happened. Visit the local courthouse too and find out why you as DPOA were not informed by the court that you had to appear and a decision for guardianship was made without your knowledge which is illegal. Please talk to a lawyer.
It does not sound like they had any other options but guardianship if you could not provide for her at home to their standards. Where were these other family members when you needed help and support sorting this all out? The equity should go to her care before it goes to the family. Someone has to pay for her care and the equity is a resource.
By law the OP is the legal DPOA and was supposed to be informed that there was a petition for guardianship. The OP was supposed to appear in court and have the chance to speak up to the judge about what's going on. When POA does not show up in court, they lose by default. If the POA is not informed by the court when they case is on the docket and so they can appear, that is illegal.
You cannot hand off a DPoA to someone else. Only your Mom can do this legally by rewriting her DPoA. If she doesn't have the cognitive legal capacity to do this, then this is why the courts assigned her a guardian.
They had no legal right to do this. The court appointed a guardian because the OP did not appear in court and lost by default. It was the legal obligation of whoever was petitioning the court for guardianship and challenging the DPOA in place to send legal documents (done by a lawyer representing the mother) informing them of the suit. Then the court is supposed to let the DPOA know when the proceeding is taking place so they can appear. If the DPOA has no idea anyone is petitioning for guardianship and doesn't even know about the court date, they can't show up. The OP should not allow these people to get away with this.
So, you were the DPoA all along, which means you were always responsible to be managing this in a timely manner for your Mom. No other entity or facility is going to do this for you. If you are over your head as DPoA, as it seems, then guardianship for your Mom by a 3rd party court-assigned guardian seems like the best solution.
You are panicking over thinking Medicaid will "take" her house. This is not what they do. When your Mom passes, Medicaid begins MERP (Medicaid Estate Recovery Program). The guardian will submit a financial accounting of where every penny of her funds went. If she owes money for the care she received through Medicaid, then Medicaid puts a lien on her house, which will need to be satisfied by the next owners, even if they are the inheritors of the house.
You don't say what state your Mom lives in, since the Medicaid rules vary by state.
The guardian will have to deal with the squatters now, so since I have worked with a court-assigned guardian for my stet-FIL here in MN and had a positive experience, my advice to you is to be as cooperative with the guardian as possible, since they are working on behalf of your Mom's best interests. Tell them about the squatters and what you've done to date to extricate him/her/them,
The house is your Mom's, not yours. The funds from selling her house could have been used to pay her medical bills and her care. People make some very unwise and selfish caregiving decisions because they are expecting an inheritance. Please rethink your expectation of your Mom's house. She has a guardian now, so it is out of your control, and probably for the best.