Taking the first steps to moving my uncle with dementia into a home. We do not have access to his finances. What do we do first?

You can file a motion at the circuit court clerk office for emergency guardianship. It is higher in rank than a POA. It’s not expensive and helps you to get necessary help for your family member. After so many days, the county attorney, guardian ad litem, and social worker will decide if this person truly needs a guardian. These three and you will go back before the judge for ruling. I hope this helps.

POA is GIVEN by a COMPETENT adult. If the brother has dementia he can no longer give POA. Now it is a matter of guardianship. If he is hospitalized a Social Worker ?can help you get a temporary guardianship for a parent, who will then have access to everything. But this requires a DIAGNOSIS of dementia. Has that been done yet?
When the estranged bro moved in 10 months ago what was the agreement for rental, payments, and etc.?
I think that you are starting at the beginning here and that you, your Mom and Dad need to see an Elder Law Attorney. Expect to pay as much as 350.00 for an hour of time. Find out what you must do now to see your uncle safely placed.

If he has been diagnosed with dementia he can not legally sign any papers giving you or other family members access to any of his assets.
You can seek Guardianship.
See an Elder Care Attorney and the process can be started. It can be daunting, it can be expensive but most expenses should be paid by/with your uncles assets.

As others have said, they can pursue guardianship. Yes, it will be expensive and arduous for them. The other option would be to call that social worker back and tell her the State needs to step in because you can't afford to have him remain in the home. The state would need to pursue guardianship. Not a pleasant situation to be in, its a good example of why one needs to be very careful and have some fore planning done before setting up a living situation with someone who may need more care in the future.

Your uncle is the only one who can assign any Powers of Attorney and he must be of sound mind when doing it. I think you will need to pursue guardianship or conservatorship in order to legally manage any of his finances. Or you move him into the NH and allow them to pursue guardianship. How will your uncle pay for his care if he isn't competent to do so? Pursuing guardianship is expensive: about $10K to do it through the courts. I'm not sure there are any other options.

Nephew,
Does your Uncle have any other family, a spouse, children, or any other siblings that could serve as Representative Payee for your Uncle with Social Security,
IF he receives Social Security?

What do you mean that you tried to get power of attorney over his finances and the bank did not 'approve it'. Did your Mom already have POA before your Uncle was diagnosed with dementia? One does not 'apply' for POA to any bank. But I am familiar with the bank blocking efforts of a POA for security and competency reasons.

Everyone is correct, one cannot obtain POA after a person has questions about competency with dementia.

Talk to his doctor.

If one is working with only Social Security income, you need a "Rep-Payee"
appointed to use those funds on Uncle's behalf.

If interviewed by the social worker separately, would your Uncle agree to let his estranged sister take over his finances, or would he instead mention that they are estranged?

This discovery of a family member's income and assets can take a very long time if there is more than a SS. income or other assets, as well as life insurance, etc. An attorney can assist with that.

Where did your Uncle live prior to moving into your parent's home? Was there a POA in place by anyone?

With a little more information, I might recommend that you contact Social Security online. Start with changing his address.

Since the bank refused the POA, he is most likely beyond even marginal capability of authorizing any POAs, even with an attorney. We had POAs and will in place, but needed to set up a new trust, etc when mom showed signs of early dementia. The atty took her aside and queried her, to convince himself she could still make these decisions. Thankfully she was.

First order of business will be to get the necessary authorization to be his guardian/conservator. That will require going to court. This will be needed to gain access to his bank accounts and any assets he owns.

If his only income is SS, you need to apply to be Rep Payee. Since in office visits are probably not allowed right now, call the local SS office and request a phone appt to sign up. This IS the only LEGAL way to manage SS funds. Others have said go online to change his address, etc, but that isn't legal, for ANYONE, never mind someone with dementia (this applies to ANY online account, but SS is federal, which can bring more trouble to your door.)

The application isn't difficult, takes a little while to process, first payment comes as check to the Rep in name of person, then you can open a special Rep Payee account. Only the Rep can access it and funds must be used for the person. They do require yearly reports, so keep receipts/notes. THIS isn't difficult and can be done online through YOUR own SS account (they link the rep payee account to your SS.) This is also FREE.

I would get the rep payee application started, so that you have access asap to some funds for him. I would then contact EC attys to find out how you can get emergency guardian/conservatorship appointment and what it will cost. Until you have access to his funds/assets, you may have to pay up front for this, but should be able to reimburse yourself once the account(s) are accessible. The court system will also require accounting reports, and are likely more involved than SS.

Once the above is taken care of, then you can decide how to move forward. If he needs to be placed in MC, but can't afford it, Medicaid might be needed, but not all states will pay for MC. Medicaid does also have in-home options for care.

But, cross that bridge later - you need to get guardianship and financial access done first! You can always ask the EC atty or come back here for additional information/assistance. Many can advise, but legal advice is generally the best.

You will end up spending a whole lot of money trying to get Power of Attorney.

The best thing would have been to let him continue living with your parents and using his money to pay for Caregiving help.

If he has any mind left at all, your parents could have taken him to the Bank and add whoever is his brother or sister's name to his account.

My Dad has Dementia and he still has enough mind left to do that.

You should try taking him to the Bank to make thst request in person

Welcome to the forum. I am sorry you and your family are facing this situation but I applaud your attempts to assist them. You have received a lot of information and suggestions here but since there is not a lot of detail here, I suggest that you contact an certified elder care attorney and ask for a free initial consultation (a lot of them will do that); you can find one on their national association website www.naela.org. An attorney can lay out the do's and don't and give you an outline of the entire process that will be needed for your uncle as well as some price guidelines.

If for some reason, your uncle goes to the hospital and is hospitalized, please grab a social worker and explain that he cannot be discharged back to your parents home. If he is over 65, they will evaluate the need for long term care and can assist in placement but expect to still do a lot of leg work and paper gathering thru this whole process. At some point, particularly if he needs a Medicaid application, be prepared to gather at least 5 years worth of check statements, bills etc as well as birth and marriage certificates. If he has ever been in the Armed forces, he may be eligible for assistance from that sector.
Please keep us updated and good luck on this journey.

https://www.agingcare.com/questions/a-psychiatrist-diagnosed-my-uncle-with-dementia-but-his-gp-said-paranoid-psychosis-464183.htm

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