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My uncle is 83 and has a caregiver that he is constantly giving money to. He is kindhearted and has a lot of money, but this, I discovered after auditing his bank accounts, has been going on for years to the tune of $30,000 a month. The caregiver claims she never took any money from him other than what he offered to give her to help her out. He says he gave it willingly, but surely this is illegal! This is in Texas.

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As unfortunate as these situations are, they are pretty much the normal outcome. The elderly are preyed upon unrentlessly. The sad thing is every single time it is an all too familiar story. Money. Money. Money. I can not stress enough to consult with an elder law attorney while the older personn has cognition. Elderly people are killed for their money. They are conned out of their money. They are coerced out of their money. Getting older comes with a huge price ticket for care. I would totally recommend a two signature check and never pay anyone in cash. People are prosecuted for stealing from vulernable seniors but the hard cold fact is once the money is gone, the ability to acquire the quality of care the seniors deserve is gone too. That is the real tragedy here. Contact the DHR in your state and file a report. Contact the District Attorney in your locale. Contact IRS. See if your county offers online case look up and check out this person. And I agree if it is a woman she has wiggled it. I would consider hiring a PI and keep your uncle under a close eye because sometimes when the theft suspects the gig is up the seniors end up dead. Sucks but that is the skinny.
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It is only illegal if your Uncle can be proven incompetent. If he isn't then there really isn't anything that can be done.
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I'm not a lawyer or accountant, but I think cash gifts of 14,000 or more get reported to the IRS...
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Bummer - late to the party. Anyhoo-

While the post itself seems legitimate enough - older person not thinking clearly being financially taken advantage of... the dollar amounts seem too outrageous to be accurate.

As Countrymouse points out - nearly half a million dollars a year? But $5,000 - $6,000 is okay as it's probably monthly expenses?!! What does this old guy do and/or buy each month cause that's a whole lot of Depends!

One would assume he owns his house so it's not rent... And I have to believe someone with that kind of money to give away has someone - besides the caregiver - in his life, like an accountant, attorney, - even someone at the bank who would have noticed something.

Seriously, old men with mighty big balances in their check books just don't live solitary lives with a lone caregiver being given half a million a year - minus of course the $5,000 - $6,000 a month for Depends and cigarettes. Not to mention a doctor willing to write up a incompetency diagnosis based on a phone call with a POA nephew, without having any tests to back it up. I mean, even if it's obvious the man is incompetent there will need to be test results if it is to stand up in court. Sure, all of this - it's possible but highly unlikely. I'm just sayin'...
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I suspect that if you get an attorney you can negotiate some sort of 'settlement' with the caregiver that will allow you to recover a material portion of the 'gifts' and keep the caregiver out of jail.
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There is no law other than the sheer gall and outright audacity of the caregiver accepting this money. I hope she has sleepless nights.
And OldBob-spot on correct, no doubt!
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30K a month? wow, I get zero. I'm new on this forum; can anyone tell me what 24/7 in-home carers are paid?
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I agree with Country mouse. A POA only comes into effect once the person is incompetent to handle their own affairs. I think you should consult a lawyer but then you won't be able to get the money back. If the doctor declares you Dad incompetent, take all checkbooks, debit and credit cards out of the house. Have a contract between u and her. Depending on what she does, pay her accordingly.
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I agree with Country mouse. A POA only comes into effect once the person is incompetent to handle their own affairs. I think you should consult a lawyer but then you won't be able to get the money back. If the doctor declares you Dad incompetent, take all checkbooks, debit and credit cards out of the house. Have a contract between u and her. Depending on what she does, pay her accordingly.
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Another problem is that he should have been paying SS taxes for this woman--of course she doesn't want him to, but he can have to cough up all those taxes for all the years he has been paying her, and probably she will too. When you say off the grid do you imply she may be undocumented? The situation is illegal whatever, but not only for her, for your uncle as well. There is also a limit on how much you can gift to an individual in one year. I think it is around $14,000 a year, and he gives more than that in one month??? You need a tax attorney!
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You should talk to a good estate attorney & CPA firm with forensic accountants. Giving away more than $14,000 per year has estate tax implications. There is probably no way to recover the funds, but the elder's tax returns could be revised for the last 5-7 years to show payments to this caregiver above board, as a contractor. This would then be taxable on the contractor/fleecer's part. You might not be able to get blood from a turnip, but the IRS sure can. Sic 'em!
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That money would have been mine had I owned it. And if I had any caretaker cleaning me out I would fire them right on the spot! You don't use anybody else's money for your personal use without their permission. I wonder where the caretaker was when the brains were being handed out. Out picking daisies?
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Sounds like he was paying for the "services" of the caregiver. That would mean they are an employee and those payments need to be reported to the IRS. A lawyer may costs $$ but looks like at least a consultation is in order to see what your options are. Most Eldercare lawyers will do a free consult.
It is hard enough to find someone to care for the elderly without someone like that taking $ they obviously weren't earning
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I was assigned POA for my mother several years ago, but until recently never had reason to do anything with it. But things changed recently and now I need to start exercising the POA.
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RayLin, that depends on how the gift was given. Checks written to cash? That raises a red flag for me. Who signed them? Who cashed them? Where? (One case I know was discovered by the grocery store - caregiver was cashing the checks for groceries, then going to customer service window to buy lottery tickets.) What form of "permission" did he grant? "Go ahead, take something for yourself"? Often an elder's ability to appreciate numbers is one of the first things to go. Does he know the difference between $3000 and $30,000?

If all those payments were really gifts, an independent investigation by elder protective services should be able to clear it up. But on the surface it sounds like a fleecing.
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If it's been going on for years why question it now?
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A gift is a gift is a gift.

Check with your attorney but, a gift is a gift is a gift....
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We encourage people to sign POAs in advance, while they are able and have the capacity. Nephew was no doubt named some time ago. Uncle has caregiver, things seem to be going well, uncle is paying caregiver. Then, boom, something happens which causes nephew to start looking, and what he finds is horrifying. You can try making a report to the local police and/or elder protective services, but I would not be surprised to find that caregiver has suddenly "left the area."
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Cetude, what a hateful comment. If you can't say something helpful, don't say anything at all.
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The POA cannot exercise his responsibility without the permission of the person for whom he holds it, unless and until that person is recognised to lack capacity; and if you cannot do something, you cannot be held responsible for not doing it.

I am in the process of giving POA to someone now. I am 53. I do not expect him to need to exercise it for some time, if ever. The whole point is for it to be there in case, because you never know and if you wait until you do know you're likely to be too late.

Tinkster, true. I was taking his screen name of NephewPOA as a clue.
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POA has to be set up *before* cognizant decline. Otherwise it will be court appointed guardian. POA has a responsibility and if they didn't exercise it oh well.
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You know, the original poster has never come out and said that he is officially the POA...
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I don't think that's fair, Cetude. The nephew was given power of attorney by his uncle, but that doesn't mean his uncle gave him any opportunity to use it. And as long as the uncle's competent, the nephew couldn't even look at a single bank statement without the uncle's permission. He's finding stuff out now, and he's pretty horrified by it apparently.

I'm just hoping to hear more about whether this kindly gentleman really has handed over that amount of money. I am agog.
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To find out if it's "legal" for someone like your uncle to have given away all that money, you will probably need to look into your state laws. Many states have statutes protecting "vulnerable" adults.

Usually your options are to contact Adult Protective Services and/or consult with an elder law attorney.

An elder law attorney in your state should be able to help you understand if you can make a case that this was illegal and/or abusive, and whether it's worth trying to recover anything from the caregiver.

But attorneys are expensive, so you may want to do some more research first.
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Since the POA was clueless what was going on for "years" especially that the uncle is wealthy--it sounds like the POA was also neglectful and you too are after his money. Cheers. Typical vulture family just after the money. With that kind of money he could have had around the clock private nursing care from a reputable agency, or live in a fancy high-class nursing home. 
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I have a hunch that the caregiver may very attractive.

Grace + Peace,

Bob
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In Massachusetts, I would have recommended that you call elder services. Don't
Be surprised if once you take over your uncle's finances and she is no longer earning 30k a month JFS she is no longer interested in caring for your uncle.
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His doctor has agreed... When did your uncle's doctor conduct his assessment? Or do you mean that the doctor has agreed to do that next week?

You said above that "for years" this caregiver has been siphoning off $30,000 per month, which we'll adjust to $25,000 per month to allow for the legitimate expenses which you mention in your second post.

As a minimum, at the very least, that means that you are saying this woman has relieved your uncle of more than half a million dollars.

Seriously? Is that what you mean? Is that what you put to her when she told you your uncle had been "helping out"? Over half a million dollars?

Very helpful indeed.
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His doctor has agreed to declare him mentally incompetent next week when he goes in for an appointment. I spoke to the doctor yesterday. I have explained I am taking over ALL finances as his POA. He still insists on keeping this caregiver.
Mainly I was wondering if it was legal to give a caregiver that kind of money (Probably $4k to $5k per month was for his expenses...the rest just disappeared in checks written to the caregiver and checks for cash). She is not hired through an agency, and his arrangement with her was to pay her in cash. I am sure she is "off the grid" as far as IRS or any other government taxes. Would not surprise me if she is on welfare as well.
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FF since NephewPOA posts that he discovered this while auditing his uncle's finances, I think we can assume that the getting things in hand process has already been begun.
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