What is the reason for guardianship?

I am somewhat confused about how you plan to pay for your Mom's LTC/nursing home.  You state that "Her Insurance (which I assume is Medicare and a Medicare Supplement Insurance) will pay for skilled nursing for her, for the time being.  However until then, money she has will go for her facility payment. There is only about 7k...I will be funding the remaining."

Is your Mom currently in a skilled nursing home receiving PT & OT or is she in an assisted living facility or a "regular" nursing home?  Are you are using her $2300 a month pension to pay for her care at the long term care facility?  Is the 7K from your Mom's savings account or annuity?  How will you be "funding the remaining" ---  with your OWN money from your OWN bank accounts?  What do you mean when you state that your mother is "upside down on mortgage"?  Why do you not want to sell your Mom's house now if she is not living in it currently?  Property Insurance sometimes gets cancelled if no one is living in the house.  If you are waiting for the real estate market to improve and the value of your Mom's house to increase before you sell your Mom's house, you might find yourself running into the 5 year look-back period for Medicaid.  Are you planning to apply for Medicaid for your Mom?

Does one of you have financial and Medical POA? If not, then guardianship may be needed. For now if there is a POA in place and everyone is on the same page, u don't need guardianship.

If Mom has no money, how are you going to pay for AL? Sell her house? You have to be careful when selling a house if Medicaid is in Moms future. House has to be sold at market value. Mom is going to decline as time goes on. LB, I think, is one of the Dementia's a person can become violent. An AL cannot deal with a resident prone to violence. You may want to look into a very nice LTC facility that accepts Medicaid. Not all AL do and if they do, in my state you have to pay privately for at least 2 yrs before Medicaid can be considered.

Guardianship is expensive. Medicaid allows it to come out of Moms money. Its needed when there is no POA in place or you need more control than a POA allows. Its also gotten when there is a POA that family may feel is abusing their responsibility or family want control. POAs are revoked if a guardianship is given. You also will be responsible to the state for every dime you spend and giving an update on how the person ur guardian for is doing.

As his guardian you can keep him in the facility. You have the right to say who can take him out of the building and who can't. His facility should be a lock down to a certain extent. You can ask that he not be let out of the building. Guardianship is not like a POA, you have paid a lot of money to be in controll because your Dad no longer can make informed decisions.

Guardianship is about control. If the county takes guardianship, you and your family will have no say about her care, her finances, what facility, etc. This is what happened with my stepFIL. The guardians (in his case Lutheran Brotherhood) were happy to call and ask us for information or receive info from us (like his favorite music, food, scents, etc) but you will be excluded from all else and any decision-making on your mom's behalf. You will be able to visit her as long as the guardians have no reason to "protect" her from anyone. The guardians are the advocate of that person and act accordingly. Hope this info helps in your decision making.

Guardianship comes into play when an elder is unable to make any sound decisions whatsoever, and decisions must be made in order to continue that elder's care. For instance, worst case screnario, Mom were to become demented. She were to require placement in memory care. Her home would be sold to finance her care. Let's say she refuses to allow that to be done. I think for most people a POA is enough. Guardianship comes into play with some of the things you will see on the forum. Warring siblings, some other things, complicated estates. Mom does need a DPOA in place assigning a trusted member of family or friend to manage her finances if/when she is unable, and a POA for health care decisions so that were she unable to direct her own care that person, understanding her wishes, would see to it that her wishes are carried out to the best of ability.

Who is telling you to get guardianship?

Do you have power of attorney?

Guardianship /conservator enables you to handle a persons affairs, medical, housing and finances when the person is incompetent.

If your mother(?) is cooperating with you in her care and affairs you may be just fine.

I had to get guardianship of my dad because his dementia made it impossible for him to make correct decisions. Before the guardianship, there was no one to make these decisions and when APS finally stepped in, they insisted I try to get guardianship. I also have conservatorship because he would not spend money where needed for his care (he's too cheap). He recently had to be hospitalized and it was decided by the doctors that he could not be released to go back to his house. His doctors and our care manager say he can no longer live on his own. I had been shopping for assisted living and memory care for over a year, keeping a few in mind for when this time happened, so his move was an easy one last week. However, today we are dealing with a man who has decided that he is walking out of the assisted living on Friday and going home. I'm not sure how he is getting there but he may call a friend to take him. Guardianship is no guarantee that you can make the protected person do what you want. I have no idea what I'm going to do if he goes home on Friday.