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I was being pushed by a nursing home to put my mother in their facility. I am her POA even though I have three other siblings. I finally agreed I needed to do this for my mom and myself.
The office coordinator said she need me to come in and sign all the papers for admission before she's admitted. She had all papers completed and ready for me to sign.
The coordinator had it setup that my mothers SS check would go to me and I would be billed monthly. I also had to sign a document being responsible for any cost for my mother's care. My mother has approved Medicare and Medicaid.
This bothered me to the point that I canceled her going there.
My mother has Alzheimer's and will eventually will need to go to a Nursing home. I need to know if this is normal practice?

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Never, never, NEVER sign as the responsible party.

Your mom's care is HER financial responsibility, not yours.

Seek legal advice about signing "Jane Doe, in her capacity as POA for Betty Doe".
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Happened to me. In my case my dad changes his Medicare/ Medicaid provider all the time. This has created payment issues. It could create a situation where the new Medicare/ Medicaid policy won't cover the care given. I guess that's when they'll come for me.
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You are POA but don't yet understand the duties? That is very dangerous. You are a legally responsible fiduciary. I suggest you use your POA to buy and hour of elder law attorney time to find out just what a POA is and just how they must act. Also that you are responsible to keep meticulous records of every single penny in and every single penny out.
It is a shame you cancelled the ALF. Really a shame.
In short this is how it works. You will be now signing ALL legal things. You Mom is no longer able to sign anything if she is incompetent to do so. You sign HER name. For instance if her name is Alva Deer and your name is Little Dear you sign her papers Alva Deer by Little Dear, POA or Alva Deer by Little Dear, POA in fact. Look up the various ways online but the point is here you sign her name by your name as her POA. If you sign only her name it means nothing if she has dementia. If you sign YOUR NAME (worst case screnario) you make YOURSELF beholden for the costs. That can be disasterous, and ignorance of the law is no excuse under the law.
If your Mom is going into care all her assets will go to pay for that care except a small allowance, and when she dies all assets she has will be there for recovery of the state/federal Gov. to recover what they invested.
Please go at once to an elder law attorney to learn about being POA and research online your duties, obligations under the law, and how to sign things.
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Should they? That's an ethical question. For a business they want to make sure they get paid. They really don't care who pays.

Should you? NO!

Facilities make it sound like it's run of the mill and that everyone does it. They tell you not to worry about it. Worry about it. There's no reason for you to sign anything signifying that you personally accept responsibility. You are representing your mother. Sign on her behalf. The way I sign things is "My Name for Mom's Name". I make it clear that I'm signing on someone else's behalf. I'm not signing for me.
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Just to back up a little...read your PoA paperwork to see when your authority is activated. Some are "springing" (needed 1 of more medical diagnosis of incapacity) and some are "durable" (active the moment it is signed). In the document it also specifies exactly what the PoA is able to do (like sell/purchase property, invest money, etc). So please make sure you know exactly what you're able to do.

My husband is joint PoA for his mom, along with 1 brother. Only 1 of them is required to perform any function as PoA. This can only happen because there's nothing controversial or contentious about their relationship or disagreements about their mother's care. My husband signed the facility document with his mother's name and then underneath it "XX, as PoA for XX" and he brought in his documents so they could copy them for their records. Every state's facilities must adhere to differing rules so you must please check with an elder law attorney for your mom's state of residence.

Because you have siblings it is strongly recommended that you know exactly how to manage your PoA responsibilities so that if anyone ever questions what you're doing you will be able to show them excellent record keeping. FYI as PoA you are under NO obligation to share any info with them, but limited transparency would help head off suspicions and therefore problems, but that's just my opinion.

My MIL is on Medicaid in LTC. Her SS check gets directly deposited into a checking account in her name, with the PoAs on it jointly. Then the facility automatically withdraws the monthly fee from that same account. Medicaid pays the balance directly to the facility. We never have to write a check.

You must check what her state's Medicaid pays for. One must both medically and financially qualify for Medicaid. In my state it only pays for LTC, not AL or MC. There is such a thing as an Elder Waiver from the county/state that helps pays for other care, but not 100%. You must know what your state offers.
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You were smart. You sign nothing that you are responsible monetarily. A POA is not responsible to pay for anything out od pocket. When the principles money is gone, other options need to be considered.

"The coordinator had it setup that my mothers SS check would go to me" IMO this cannot be done. SS has to OK payee. I did sign papers, as POA, that the NH could apply for SS payee then the payment came to them directly.

Has Mom actually been OKd for Medicaid LTC? Which is different than Medicaid for health. It must be applied for and you only have a certain time to take advantage of it within a certain time. In my state you have 90days to spend down assets, get Medicaid info required and get the person placed.
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