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My stepmom suffers from dementia and she is being taking advantage of when she receives her retirement money every month. I have taken her debit card but she still is able to withdraw money with family members. When asked about it she claims she doesnt remember but she routinely writes down her withdraws. How can i protect her so she will have enough money to survive?

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Also this is very stressful to your cousin. It's a type of extortion. They show up and she knows why. If she doesn't give the money they most likely won't visit. She has to answer to you and son so more stress. So it's good you are taking steps to stop this.
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FF misspoke. If step mom will need Medicaid she cannot apply until she is down to $2.000.00. With the application you will need to provide records of financial business to show she has not been giving money or property away for the previous five years. If Medicaid identifies gifts that have been given they will penalize step mom an amount equal to the gifts. If she needed care that cost $5,000.00 and she had given away $20,000.00, then step mom would have to find another way to pay the $5,000.00 for four months before Medicaid will kick in.
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I, her cousin and her son are listed on the POA. Two signatures are required for any business. We just received a diagnosis from the VA dr. Took over a year. I am working to find a lawyer to help with the guardianship.

Can you please explan the Medicare aspect?
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Cecily, who is your Step-Mom's financial Power of Attorney?   That person could immediately take charge of all of Mom's bills, credit cards, checkbooks, bank accounts, stocks, etc.   Hopefully it isn't one of those family members who thinks Mom is their personal ATM machine.

If Step-Mom doesn't have Power of Attorney, do you think she is still of clear mind enough to understand what is a Power of Attorney and have an Attorney appoint someone?   If not, then someone needs to get Guardianship of Step-Mom.

What I fear is that when the time comes for your Step-Mom to need Medicaid for her care, such as paying for a higher level of care, Medicare does look back 5 years to see what your Mom has been doing with her money.   Medicaid will see a lot of "gifts" being given of money.   Sadly Medicaid could deny her of care until that money is returned.
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