My niece lived with my mom for 2.5yrs. Since my niece moved in, my mom was very much controlled by my niece. My mom stopped talking to her 3 kids because my niece wanted my mom to herself...Now that my niece has moved away...my mom wants her kids back in her life. We found out that my niece is now, the power of attorney and if my mom dies the house goes to my niece too. In 2.5yrs my moms mental health isnt the same...is it legal to switch important paperwork...? We have a huge mess...
Take all of your evidence to an elder law attorney. Best of luck to you.
I remember your earlier posts. I am glad you have your mom back in your life.
Determine when your mom is at her best. Mornings perhaps.
Make sure she doesn’t have a UTI and go over her meds with her doctor to make sure she is not confused due to her meds. Have mom sign a release allowing you access to her medical records. If that fails just look at her meds. Do the meds she is on indicate she is being treated for dementia? Does she pay her own bills? Is she able to perform her ADLs? IADLS?
Have you seen this POA? Has anyone seen it?
Hire a qualified certified elder attorney who has dealt with similar situations. Perhaps you and the brothers could have a meeting before hand to explain what has happened during COVID and how your nieces own state of mind may be questionable.
You won’t know until you try but don’t put it off too long. For sure, now is not the time for an internet POA.
If niece is still in moms life, you need to determine if mom was/is well taken care of. Does mom miss her, want to see her?
You may have to file for guardianship If it is too late for mom to rescind the old POA and she needs protection from niece.
Your local brothers attempt to do his wellness visits should be documented in case that is helpful, plus your phone calls. Did you ask APS to call on mom as was suggested when you wrote in before? That could be a pro or con at this point.
Think about what documentation you have that niece was holding mom hostage. At the end of the day, if mom needed care and was well taken care of while niece was with her, that is a consideration. If mom was already in decline and easy for niece to manipulate that is another. The time period you lost your moms company was very hard on all of us.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
My folks set up their trusts and powers of attorney too late, really. Dad was perfectly competent until the day he died, but Mom literally started having memory issues the same week Dad finally went to an attorney to set things up. Total coincidence and the dementia was related to another health issue that cropped up then. We also didn't realize she was beginning to have dementia issues and thought it was just due to her illness.
Since Mom was very early into her dementia journey and the attorney had met with Dad alone and was confident that his kids weren't trying to steal his money, everything went forward. I was given POA and made Successor Trustee after my folks. Fast forward three years, and -- surprise! -- Dad's the one who is dying, not Mom. At this point, Mom was clearly unable to make decisions as Trustee, so the attorney made a house call and suggested they both resign as trustees and turn the trust over to me to manage. They both signed off on it, although Mom had no idea what she was signing.
The only reason why the attorney was OK with this was because by then he knew me and knew I wasn't a money-grubbing child, and my dad was still competent and openly vouched that this was what he wanted to do. The two of us and our stability satisfied the attorney that Mom resigning from the trust was the thing to do and would keep me from having to spend a fortune having her removed and getting guardianship of her.
We were lucky to have a very conscientious attorney, and I know he would never OK something unless he felt 100% comfortable about it. That's the kind of attorney you want, but you need to understand that the attorney works for your mother, not you. If you think Mom is capable of going into his office alone without you prompting her to make certain statements, then by all means try to get the paperwork straightened out. Otherwise, you might be stuck, because if Mom can't say that it is not her wish for the niece to inherit the house and control her affairs, then there's not much you can do.