Our parents are in their 80s and we are trying to prepare for the day when they might not be mentally acute enough to handle healthcare or financial decisions. They all have a living will and have assigned POA to family members but should we also advise them to assign an authorized rep on SS and Medicare?
We just want to cover all bases and we are blessed with trustworthy family members.Thank you
It sounds like you are a "ducks in a row" kind of person like me. It's always best to be prepared.
If you need to be representative payee for SS do look on their site where SS tells you how to do this and what you need. It cannot be done UNTIL your parent is no longer competent to manage his/her own SS, and then is done with letters from the doctors to prove incompetency.
Become a signature on all their bank accounts. So it totally stays notated as their SS# for ownerships, but you are a signature on them. This way if you need to move $ or write a check or get them a fresh debit card, you can. Also have all their bank accounts to be POD / pay on death to you. Personally I found that my having my own account at the same bank was a really good idea, as you could easily have all available to you to online monitor, do transfers, pay bills. And when they die, that balance in their account goes pretty seamlessly over to your account as you are the POD on record.
IF they have any investment accounts, review them to have whomever is their POA to be listed as the primary after death beneficiary & NOT each other as beneficiary*. Change if need be. If their financial advisor doesn’t know you, have the folks give them a call and say you will be contacting them; and then you ask if you need to do fresh paperwork to establish your POA and review the accounts and beneficiary status. Most have their own set of POA and other designee paperwork that you have to fill out to do anything more easily.
* maybe your folks have oodles of $ so the idea of ever filing for LTC Medicaid is not a concept, but ya never know…. so because of this having you or your siblings named as the beneficiary of life insurance policy, as beneficiaries of their individually owned investment accounts means the $ goes outside of probate to you. Not to the now widowed spouse. It gives them less assets so if they should need to file for LTC Medicaid they have less “spend down” to do.
As far as beneficiaries of investments, we placed ours into a Trust with our sons as the trustees. The trust is the beneficiary of our insurance policies and investments so that everything is still there for the benefit of the surviving spouse and anything left goes to our sons.
Be careful making adult children beneficiaries because even if there is a surviving spouse, it would then go to the children. I would hope each one would use it still to benefit the parent but they don't have to. The funds are then vulnerable to any lawsuits (think car accident), bankruptcies etc. the children personally have to deal with and the surviving parent has lost their savings.
You may want to run your concerns by the attorney who drew up their papers if they were an estate/elder care attorney. If not, find an estate/elder care attorney to advise you. If their papers are older they may need to be updated to reflect any law changes in their state.
I can not remember now but, we were informed that we needed to change that on, I think, our retirement accounts or it would be taxable.
Unfortunately, I do not keep certain information in my noggin after everything has been dealt with. I would suggest that you verify that you haven't created a tax liability. Just my experience.
It is a bit different talking about a parent(s) which one would presume an adult child/ren would take on these responsibilities. Friend or family, it is or feels the same to me. You want to ensure that everything is set up legally so you can make the best decisions on their behalf / when they are unable to.
POA
Fiduciary (VA) - Veteran's Admin
Soc Sec Payee Representative
I kept impeccable records.
Kept every receipt.
You cannot be too careful in these financial/legal matters.
If you have questions about how to proceed, talk to an attorney specializing in elder estates / trusts. (Any attorney who works with elder needs).
Gena / Touch Matters