My father is 81 years old and not in good health, but he is healthy enough to go to the bank several times a week to see what his balance is so that he can spend it. Unfortunately, he has been sending a lot of money to Jamaica in hopes that he really will win that 4.9 million dollar payout. He is very secretive about his finances (this is nothing new) but through snooping I have found that he has sent thousands of dollars to these scam artists. If he were still able to pay his bills I am not sure that I would be able to legally step in, but he is now bouncing checks all over. At what point will a court let me step in? I am hearing that it is very difficult to declare someone financially incompetent and I know that he will fight me every step of the way. On the other hand, he and my mom saved for years so that they could have the kind of retirement they wanted and he is blowing through the retirement account. (My mother has advanced dementia and cannot give me her power of attorney so that I can look at all the financial records.)
I think you should talk to a lawyer right away and see if you can start proceedings. Your mom needs protection, and from the cases I have seen, your fathers’ behavior should be enough to have the court step in. The court may have him examined by someone; if I were you, I would want that to be a neuropsychologist if at all possible. They are expensive, but much more thorough than a physician.
IANAL and all that, but we did get a conservatorship for my father.
Be very careful what you ask for, you just might get it.
If you get a conservatorship, you will be subject to an accounting to the court on a regular basis. You will generate accounting fees, and lawyer fees. You will have to pay the court to have someone look over the accounting. These people do not necessarily have good common sense*
I think the conservatorship took 10 years off of my sister’s life. (She was the conservator)
I would investigate other avenues first and use the conservatorship as a last resort. You might find that a conservatorship is like using cannon to kill a fly.
YMMV of course, and consult a lawyer in your state.
One other word of warning, if your father does not have a will get one drafted and signed before the conservatorship. Probate is a bitch and really slows things down when coupled with a conservatorship. It took over three years to close my father’s estate from date of death.
*In my father’s case there was a mutual fund that he owned, that due to rounding off showed a penny discrepancy between the opening value + value changes and the closing value. Despite there being no buy or sell transactions, the examiner forced a court hearing over the penny. We had to pay our attorney to go to a court hearing over the penny. Thanks asshole.
I don’t know about a durable power of attorney, but a conservatorship is administered by the court. Once you are in, about the only way out is death. If you suspected fraud on the part of a family member, a conservatorship with it’s court imposed accounting requirements is probably best.
If you do not suspect a family member of fraud, another solution might be a lot easier to live with.