I have a POA and Health Proxy for my Mother. I had to get a verification letter from SS for her (dementia), SS refused both docs. Why?

Ok, LightHealer, I'll bite...you are basically quite right, and I do believe Divine guidance was the main factor in my figuring out anything...but on here, we are all pretty busy trying to figure out what actually is right, because what our loved ones think is right may not be possible. And God knows, what the government tries to get right is a bit of a jumble to put it kindly! Just going with the flow may not quite work out as well as you might hope, you're going to have to muck through some rules and regs on behalf of your loved one who can't muck through it themselves.

To put it another way....Serenely swimming swans are still gonna poop somewhere, in the real world. My Divine guidance includes the idea that you have to take up your cross, bear one another's burdens and all that. And, always remember, the easy problems have been solved already :-)

In IL, I was told that POA's for financial are not honored by the Soc. Sec. Office and that if the person is declared incompetent, are you the, their guardian?
I agree with trycope51, you can do it all without a lawyer, if you are the only child and it should be straightforward, if other children are involved and they find out, it could cost bucks. Let's hope you are an only child or you have siblings who aren't going to question you or fight your intentions.

Wow I never had any problems with either parent but I was signed on to their accounts and we had set it up to have their payments direct deposited into their accounts. I am glad to know I dodged a bullet there but also be aware in case anything should happen in the future.