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I am providing care services for someone who had been a workplace acquaintance. We are both retired - I had helped her with the retirement paperwork and process. She has Parkinson's that started in her late 30's and she is now 60 and she is in Stage 3 (mobile) with some Stage 4 symptoms (assisted mobility needs). Last year, when she was in the hospital for a serious non-Parkinson's illness that nearly killed her, I accepted her request that I take on the legal role of POA. I thought it would be a short-term need. During her hospital stay and the five months of recovery that included hiring, supervising, and payroll for in-home caregivers, I was okay with being compensated an amount that would cover vehicle fuel costs.


Now, post-recovery, I am still in her life as she requires someone to oversee payment of household bills, recruitment, oversight, and payroll for a once-a-week housecleaner. She requires someone to schedule and accompany her to medical providers, physical and psychological therapies and this includes implementing the care plans set by the providers. She requires someone to track her medications for side-effects, prescriptions/refills, preparation of daily doses into med boxes and implementing fail-safes to ensure they are taken. She has two cats that need care (cat boxes, daily feeding). She owns two houses on a large property that require oversight of maintenance needs. I filed for her social security disability and it was granted. She has substantial inherited financial funds that require oversight.


She has a long-term friend that lives on her property who is an alcoholic and has no income therefore dependent upon her for housing, food. This friend's behavior is erratic and is sometimes emotionally abusive (I have not witnessed but have been told) but she does not want the friend out of her life (it's classic co-dependency). The friend is supposed to cook the evening meals but this is erratic, so, she requires a daily food service to her door that is not meals-on-wheels and needs someone to oversee the weekly ordering and payment.


She has family consisting of a parent who is 88 yrs old and a half-sibling who is 35 yrs old, but they are not local and neither is involved in her life other than brief infrequent visits and email. Her parent has told me they are glad I am helping her.


She currently exhibits short-term memory issues, and I know that as this and her other Parkinson's symptoms progress, in-home caregivers will be required. Due to her financial status, she very well can afford round-the-clock caregivers until her death even if she lives to be 90 yrs old if her funds are well-tended. This reminds me that there is the need to get her to do a will and the advance directive paperwork.


So, if I continue to perform the POA duties, and there are tasks to be tended to every day, should I request to be paid, if so, how much? I have asked two different lawyers, one seemed to chastise me by saying POAs aren't generally paid and the other suggested no more than $20/hr and it had to be declared as income for tax purposes. Would being gifted up to the IRS legal non-taxable amount ($15,000/yr) be enough, or, too much - has anyone done this?


Does anyone have experience with being a POA and being compensated?

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I agree with outsourcing as much as possible. The role of POA is to manage, not tackle everything themselves; that's true whether someone is in a hired position or a family member, no one can do it all.
If you are finding this has become much more than you originally agreed upon instead of taking on more you might want to examine whether you want to continue at all, since this would be a commitment of many years.
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A lot of the services you are providing can be outsourced. Your friend might want to hire an Aging Life Specialist to advise you both. You can still be POA, but the medication reviews, meal delivery, home maintenance, bill paying...all of those things can be outsourced to companies that will provide those services for pay.

It's a slippery slope to start paying yourself as POA. You might have a much easier time of it if you hire others to do those many tasks for her.
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tacy022, no, she has not been declared mentally incompetent. Parkinson's does have a cognitive impact and for her, she is having intermittent short-term memory issue and apathy, but she is by no means unable to think for herself. The apathy is the primary reason for having a POA. It affects her ability to take action on business matters, including payment of utilities. MACinCT, the half-sibling lives in another state. It is the alcoholic co-dependent friend who is living for free in the other house.
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The lawyer who chastised you has got some nerve - there are professionals (some of them lawyers) who do this and you can bet they aren't doing it for free or even for $20/hr. I would scout around to see what kind of fees those businesses charge and base your decision on that. And of course you need a contract and to keep scrupulous records, but I expect you know that part already.
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