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My father has been in the hospital for a week now and the social worker called and said he's no longer allowed to live on his own and has to move into assisted living or a nursing home. I've heard stories about how when you move into a nursing home, they get access to all the money the patient has for family when he passes, which were trying to avoid at all costs. The social worker suggesting me (his daughter, 23) to become his legal guardian so that I can get access to all of his accounts to make the process easier. The issue is, my father has dementia and no longer remembers what accounts he has, what banks or companies he has the money in and he has never talked to anyone in the family about where or what, we just know he has a good amount of accounts with money for when he passes. He signed over legal guardianship this morning so that's over with. Should I contact an attorney for next steps to find his accounts, if even possible? No one I know has been in this scenario so I have zero idea where to start.

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Cactigal, you are conflating PoA with guardianship. Much good and accurate insights have been given to you by the others. You are young and need to educate yourself as to what your legal options are for overseeing your father's care going forward. It would be a good idea to look through his home and find any and all paperwork that seems important (bank statements, license, SS card, investment summaries, personal tax filings, checkbooks, etc.) Without clues, no attorney would even know where to begin to look. Then maybe consider an appointment with an elder law attorney who can give you accurate guidance (specific for your father's home state) as to what your options are. If you cannot get PoA and do not pursue guardianship, the county WILL pursue it and then control everything of his and you/your family will not be privy to any of the decision-making regarding his medical care or finances. You will have no "rights", even though you are his child. Eventually when your father passes, the county/state will provide a statement itemizing what they took to compensate for all his care. If there's anything left, and your father created a will then the executor will distribute the remaining assets accordingly. Do you have any other siblings? If so, these family members should be informed of what is going on as well, so they are not shocked, surprised, suspicious, and can give you help and input.

Your father's assets need to go for his care while he's alive, not to be hoarded for anyone's inheritance. Whatever is leftover after he's paid for his care in full can be passed on to family. Do you understand that if he doesn't pay for his care with his own funds that then we (and you!) the taxpayers are then paying for his care for no good reason? If the county has guardianship, the money to pay for his care comes from our taxes. Everything that is "free" from the government is not free...it is "pre-paid" by tax paying citizens like us and you. You have your plate full at a young age and I sincerely wish you much luck in caring for your father!
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Your father cannot sign over guardianship to you or POA if he has a Dementia. He is not competent to do so. Maybe its just temporary to get him into a NH. Guardianship is expensive and you need the Court system to declare Dad incompetent. You are going to need his doctors to state this and it doesn't happen overnight.
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Of course his money is HIS and should go for HIS care in his lifetime. It isn't the property of the heirs until he is dead. WHOever is his guardian or POA is sworn to spend HIS MONEY in HIS CARE. Who do you expect to pay for his care so that family can have his money. I don't really understand this posting at all.
Does your father have dementia? Who has been paying his bills now? If no one for many years then tax problems could make all this a moot point.
Guardianship can be quite costly. Often upwards of 10,000. And that would, yes, come out of his estate.
WHEN someone is appointed as guardian they are able to go through your father's home and affects to find monthly statements, et al, to trace down what has happened. How long has family been out of contact with him? Was he competently handling his own affairs until now.
I agree with Cali. It is too long the horse is out of the barn to worry about hiding all the money now. Social workers can access a whole lot, even tax stuff. They may already have some idea of assets. And if not, assets will be found, and collected for cost of care, even if they have to be collected from the "heirs" who may or may not be named in any will (perhaps he left it to the ASPCA).
Good luck.
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Your father can’t sign over legal guardianship-that is something you have to seek from the courts. Are you aware that your father has to pay for his long term care? If he assigned you as POA, be aware that some financial institutions won’t accept it. The social worker is also wrong about nursing homes getting access to everything. That is absolutely untrue and if he’s going in to long term care now, you can’t hide his assets, that ship has sailed.
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Honestly, the best way to find stuff is to dig through paperwork at his home, if that is possible. I know with my parents, as they aged, they tended to keep everything. Perhaps you will find some statements or something. Good luck.
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