Power of Attorney

[cowboy43]

When you become POA of a person it gives you the right to manage his estate. If the person is able to make decisions but not wise decisions, does the POA have the authority to stop him from doing what he wants to do.
Example: person in rest home on (Medicaid)because he no longer can take care of himself but he thinks he can ,he wants me to sell his land so he can get out of the rest home.Selling the land will disquilify him for Medicaid it then becomes self pay at $4000 a month.He says because I will not sell the land he will contact a realtor and sell it himself . Do I have the authority to stop him selling the land.
Note: I have not received one penny for doing this and never will so I am not doing this for money if anything it has cost me money. His heirs (nephews and nieces)want nothing to do with him, my wife is his cousin and they were close growing up and l am doing it for her. I never knew him till I became POA and it has been a learning experience. No money for attorneys.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Depends on if a judge has ruled them mentally incapable.
I don't know about other states Texas has some pretty strict laws on what you can and can't do with the elderly.
Dad had Alzheimer's and I had POA we had to go before a judge to have him ruled mental impaired . Before that he could have sold or bought anything anytime he wanted.
My advice is when dealing with POA and the elderly is to have a good estate lawyer on retainer.

 

[slick4591]

Depends on if a judge has ruled them mentally incapable.
I don't know about other states Texas has some pretty strict laws on what you can and can't do with the elderly.
Dad had Alzheimer's and I had POA we had to go before a judge to have him ruled mental impaired . Before that he could have sold or bought anything anytime he wanted.
My advice is when dealing with POA and the elderly is to have a good estate lawyer on retainer.

My only experience with this is thru some friends. They had to get a court to declare their mom incompetent and appoint them as managing conservators. Just because you have a POA doesn't stop them from doing anything.

 

[Jogeephus]

Are you sure you aren't confusing Medicare with Medicaid? Reason I say this is, here, he would have had to have lied on his application to qualify for Medicaid if he owns assets as you describe. What makes more sense is you've confused Medicare with Medicaid and Medicare has only to do with his age.

As for POA, there are different types of this but like said, unless he has been found mentally incompetent by a doctor you do not have the right to stop him from doing this and you can get in a lot of trouble if you abuse your power as POA whether it was completely innocent and done out of ignorance. I'm a POA for a few people and I have to be careful because some of these people sired buzzards rather than children so I carry an insurance policy just in case I get sued by one of these buzzards.

Now, if he has been found mentally incompetent by a doctor you have complete control of his affairs just so long as your decisions can be reasonably made with his best self interest in mind.

Talk to an attorney this isn't something you want to mess around with.

 

[D2Cat]

Like Joe said, you have to be confusing a couple of words...medicare and medicaid. To be eligible to receive medicaid you have to spend down everything owned to $2000.

You as POA have a fiduciary responsibility to make the best financial decisions for the person.

 

[boondocks]

See.a.lawyer.
This is NOT something you want to get wrong.
POAs can be anything from broad to very limited.
An hour's consult will save you a ton of grief.

 

[tom4018]

Like Joe said, you have to be confusing a couple of words...medicare and medicaid. To be eligible to receive medicaid you have to spend down everything owned to $2000.

You as POA have a fiduciary responsibility to make the best financial decisions for the person.

My mom was on Medicaid a few years ago, my understanding was she could still keep a home. OP was talking about land but not sure how much. The $2,000 amount is correct.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

See.a.lawyer.
This is NOT something you want to get wrong.
POAs can be anything from broad to very limited.
An hour's consult will save you a ton of grief.

It would be money well spent.