Is it safe to hire someone to pay bills?

I pay everything --EVERYTHING -- online, including one-time occurring bills. It's an easy way to keep track of the money going out of my mom's account, and I have my finger on all of it. There's no way I'd hand over a checkbook to anyone else.

Just have the bills sent to your address, and pay that way.

No! Embezzlement is a very common crime because it is usually one of opportunity and often found out too late. I'm in business and I know of several instances. They especially can pull it off when no one is double-checking what they are doing and they seem like a trustworthy person or even "friend". NEVER hire a private individual to do this type of thing. Her PoA can just use BillPay through their online banking because this can be done remotely and the check goes directly to the payee with no one else involved. It's free!

When I took over mom's bills while she was still in her condo, I put in temp forward of her mail (about 1.5 months.) I used the bills to set up Bill Payer and contact each place to request a change in MAILING address, not service address. Even the town services were accommodating (RE Taxes and Water bill.) The only items that won't forward are Federal (SS, Medicare, Fed pensions, VA, IRS are the biggies - they don't accept POAs either. You have to follow THEIR rules.) Anyway, one item that was billed yearly was missed - insurance. Once I snagged that bill, everything was in the system and bills went to my PO box. Anything that couldn't go electronic was paid by check the BANK processed and mailed. No need to run to the PO or buy stamps! It was GRRRREAT!

Once the condo was sold, the only check I had to write were her monthly MC cost, trust funds to deposit into checking account and tax prep. If anything else came up, so long as I had a name and address to mail payment to, into the Bill Payer system it went.

I wouldn't hire someone to do that, esp if you are not local to where they are. It's much harder to oversee and deal with issues that might happen. The Bill Payer systems are SO much better! I even used it to pay the nail trimmer who would cut mom's nails (or claimed to.) She didn't even mail a bill, she emailed a statement to me. Oh, I also wrote checks to the hairdresser place, but it was on the way to mom's place and other local businesses, so not a big deal to do that every 5-6 weeks. I think once I wrote one to the dentist, but later put them into the BP system as well. Her federal medical and Medicare generally covered everything, but if some medical billed us legit, I would just add them to the system as well.

Have the bills mailed to you. If you use E-billing, that would go to your email - I preferred regular mail for bills and statements, so sadly I have boxes for every one of the last 6 years now... Just in case one of the bros decides to ask Qs now (personally I'd prefer to just tell them go pound sand - you criticize, don't help, hinder all the time, cause problems AND don't visit your mother? PFFFFT!) But if they decide to be real jerks and go legal, I don't have to scramble to get anything, it's ALL here!

Have the mailing addressed changed so you have bills, receipts, etc and put it all into the BP system. So much easier, less hassle and generally FREE!

I have all my Mom's bills sent to my address.

All bill paying can be done from any location, I see no reason to hire that task out. I would never consider doing that

I really think this is a slippery slope. My mom has dementia, my dad does not. My dad was always responsible for their financials. However getting on in age made him forgetful and he often struggled to understand his bills. I offered and he accepted. I now pay all of their bills and their bank statements and CRA letters etc are mailed to me. I would never trust a stranger to look after their accounts. They cannot afford to have someone take what belongs to them. Most bills can be paid automatically. Who looks after your bills? It doesn’t take much time to pay a few bills. If you can do it, I would suggest someone close to them look after this,

FWIW after my mother went into a nursing home (in PA), a lady who lived a few houses away helped with writing checks and paying bills (along with many other ways she helped, and all she wanted was reimbursement for any expenses incurred on my parents' behalf). Our family had known her for many years. This worked fine, and she was completely honest. I was living 500 miles away and visiting about once a month. Finally, it got to a point at which she had to give this up, and I retired and moved in with my parents. I see this lady and her husband about once a year, and I always make a point of thanking her for all she had done for us.

I am not suggesting that this is a good idea for others, but I'm just mentioning that, thankfully, there ARE some honest people out there. In our case, this was a recently-retired school teacher who, with her husband, was financially secure, and this was in a small village in which people knew each other.

Are you POA? Have Mom's bills all sent to you or hire a Licensed Fiduciary to handle her finances (about 90.00 an hour). I would not allow others access to Mom's accounts, if that's the question.

A Geriatric Care Manager might be able to do this. (If this is all the person would do the cost might be a bit much for a GCM)
Is it possible to have the bills sent to you or who ever is POA? the bills could be mailed or emailed and the check could then either be written and mailed or an e-check sent from the account.

Put address changes through or do mail forward at the post office and pay them or have the mail redirected to the POA.