Legal Forms Power Of Attorney, Info???
Q: A terrible, terrible story that rings many bells with me. I forget the buzz words but there are some forms you simply must get signed as soon as possible. She is well on her way to be declared incompetent and then it will be too late. "Vulnerable adult" is an ominous phrase. There is one form which essentially delegates her medical care to you. With that you can place her where you want to; I think there is a good likelihood that she may be in a nursing home in a few weeks. This form has nothing to do with finances. All this form needs is her notarized signature. I was unable to convince my friend to sign. She is paying the price now and will pay it every day for the rest of her life. She was just a friend though, not a relative so you at least have *some* leverage. A power of attorney would be nice too, but that would seem even more threatening to her. My friend was put in a place chosen by a some functionary at a local hospital. Which just happened to be one of the few for profit nursing home chains, Beverly Enterprises. I didn’t really have a problem with the police but you are quite likely to find that the legal system in general is *not* your friend. There will be an Alzheimer's support group of some sort, nearby if you live in small town. They can give you a better description of the forms required. You can buy the forms in a place that sells legal forms. No, I didn't used to know there were such places either.
A: -You need BOTH a power of attorney for financial matters and one for health care decisions. It used to be they were one document, but the majority of places in North America and Europe/UK, they are separate documents now. No kidding, you absolutely have to have both. Where I live, if you don't and the person ends up incompetent, the goverment appoints a guardian for the person who gets to make all the decisions - bad enough for the financial end, but a zillion times worse (IMHO) for health decisions. Imagine your mother in hospital and you having no right to talk to the doctor or have your opinion considered - especially in the case of very serious illness. A living will is a handy to thing to have as well. I have a friend whose mother had a sudden stroke and ended up in a coma, and the powers of attorney could not be located - and it was a nightmare for them - it cost a bomb in lawyers to try and get some say in what went on....and after she finally died, several months later....the powers of attorney showed up among the mother's papers. Argh. Personally, when it comes to something so important, consulting a lawyer might be valuable (as opposed to just getting the forms), since there are many things to consider when dealing with dementia - and in the US in particular, the health care system means estate planning is crucial. There are a lot of things to get in order to make caring for someone do-able. -Your post has me sitting up and paying attention. Tell me, if I get a lawyer, can he help me--can *anyone* help me--get her to sign the forms, or is there such thing as a case in which signing is somehow irrelevant? Persuasion is not going to work with my mother. She would not give power of atty to Jesus himself (sorry if that's offensive; just by way of illustration). I think I'm up a creek. I saw this whole thing go down in a very bad way (exactly as you describe) when my step-aunt got too sick to stay in her appartment. For years she had (crazily) shut out her very loving,