I am POA of my Mother. She won't do her PT so they have just informed me she is going into medicaid as of Feb. 17. She has no assets. Just her SS check. She does have credit card debt. She has been paying on them. I am not on any of her CC or on her Bank account as of Jan. 7.2014. I saw this coming.
One lawyer told me to do nothing. Let the creditors find her. They could court order her to come to court & then I would go on her behalf.
Another said try to get her to sign a bankruptcy ch. 7 but a notary would have to be their & hear my Mother agree to this. She has dementia, she is not going to agree to this! Has anyone else been through this?
I am in the state of Indiana. Help !!!
If the POA is ACTIVE (that means a dr has written a letter to say your mom can no longer handle her financial and medical affairs) then you don't need your mom to get a bankruptcy done. That is what a POA is for. It means they can't make informed decisions any longer and you have been activated to do the things that need to be done. You want to make sure you have a financial POA to do this. I know I have both financial and medical POA so for me it makes everything easier.
If you don't have the doctor letter stating mom is incompetent to handle her own affairs then you need to talk to the DR and get one (I am assuming the Dementia is that bad that it would just take a phone call to get one).
Once the POA has been activated make copies - never give out the originals and take it with you to get the bankruptcy going.
If your POA hasn't been activated yet and you can't get a letter to activate it than follow the lawyers advice and let them track her down. She is considered competent to handle this in the eyes of the law.