Social Security, Power of Attorney, Passing of Relative And aftermath.

[GeorgiaMum2011]

We are located in GA.


Our grandfather asked up to pick him up in August because he wanted to leave his wife. She filed for divorce shortly after. It was never finalized.

Everything was fine for a bit- he fell and ended up in the hospital twice. The second time they did an x-ray and realized he needed a partial hip replacement. By this time his social security payments were being put into a new account he set up. His pension, however, was still going to his joint account with his wife despite having put the papers in for transfer. She was removing all of the funds as it came in.

He was paying for rent and bills staying with a relative- this was his insistence because he didn't want to feel like a burden.

When he had the hip replacement surgery he went into rehab (say November). He was on a lot of medication but his mental condition was starting to go a bit. He came home after rehab for a while. The relative was unable to care for him because he needed 24/7 monitoring. He fell again and went into the hospital. He had to go back into rehab again toward the end of the month.

His mental condition deteriorated farther following his readmittence. Prior to admittence the relative (who does have power of attorney) had pulled the rent and bills from the account and brought money to the rehab facility (they had things like special snacks and haircuts, shaving, etc but it's on your dime). Beforehand, he was supposed to go back home.

The insurance was paying for the rehab stays and hospital stays. The following month started senior care- basically a nursing home.

At the end of November his bank account had been closed and we're not sure why. His social security was in limbo and will stay in limbo. His pension was untouchable in his wife's hands.

We could not figure out where all the paperwork we needed was to sign everything over for the nursing home and his wife was not willing to make those decisions.

Fast forward to January. Papers FINALLY get signed so they can get the checks and everything went to the nursing home.. however, grandpa is on his death bed. Right after signing, he's put into end of life hospice and passes a week into February. The nursing home apparently cancelled the paperwork for funds transfer. Social security is in limbo again.


So:

Question 1- if the relative in question has POA are the funds considered authorized in November? The wife is threatening to claim misrepresentation of funds.

Question 2- the nursing home wants a full month of payment as if he were in a nursing home from November despite Grandpa being there for rehab- paid for by insurance. Can they do this?

Question 3- The social security was in limbo- is there any way to get it sent to the nursing home retroactively? They are wanting to sue the relative for 5k.

Question 4- the month of februarys check- any way to get it sent there as well?

Question 5- Is there absolutely any way to clear this mess up??

 

[hidden danger]

Apart from extending my condolences, my advice is to sit down with a lawyer for an hour as most of the answers you seek depend on such factors as exactly what the documents grandpa signed -- including contracts with the care facility -- provide, what remaining assets he has, whether he made any agreements with his wife and if so what they provide, etc.

 

[Dandy Don]

The relative who had POA--how was he/she related to your grandfather?

The POA does not know why the bank account had been closed? Did the POA know about this bank account? Is it possible that the wife's name was on this bank account as joint co-owner and possibly she was the one who decided to close the account?

In the paperwork with the nursing home and with the hospice--did either one of them ask your grandfather to sign and give POA (which is sometimes standard procedure) to either the nursing home or to the hospice?

Did your grandfather have a last will and testament?

What would your grandfather's estate be worth?

If he has enough estate assets for a probate proceeding, whether it is a smaller estate or a larger estate, if the wife hires an attorney to handle the probate, then it will be the executor's responsibility to deal with all of the situations you have mentioned.

 

[GeorgiaMum2011]

The relative who had POA--how was he/she related to your grandfather?

The POA does not know why the bank account had been closed? Did the POA know about this bank account? Is it possible that the wife's name was on this bank account as joint co-owner and possibly she was the one who decided to close the account?

In the paperwork with the nursing home and with the hospice--did either one of them ask your grandfather to sign and give POA (which is sometimes standard procedure) to either the nursing home or to the hospice?

Did your grandfather have a last will and testament?

What would your grandfather's estate be worth?

If he has enough estate assets for a probate proceeding, whether it is a smaller estate or a larger estate, if the wife hires an attorney to handle the probate, then it will be the executor's responsibility to deal with all of the situations you have mentioned.

The relative in question is his biological son.

Grandpa had a paper with him when he came down that stated in the event the wife is unavailable or will not make decisions then his son has power of attorney. There's a twelve hour drive between them and she was divorcing him so she was pretty unavailable.

He has a will and two life insurance policies. All of that was in the process of being transferred but the nursing home cancelled all of that due to his death and are now billing for 5k for three months, threatening to sue and citing misrepresentation of funds and elder abuse (they were claiming this because of the amount of time it took to get all of the documents they needed. Grandpas wife wasn't exactly helping us and we couldn't get in touch with his pension, etc ).

This is aside from the wife trying to say his son stole the social security check.

The account was solely in Grandpa's name. It was less than 90 days old and I'm wondering if they may have closed it due to a negative balance within those 90 days?? Unless she was able to call and close it somehow. The relative didn't know it was closed until we were asked by the nursing home to get three months of bank statements from his account and the joint account.

There are two executors to the will.
One is the wife and the other is his lawyers paralegal.

 

[LdiJ]

The relative in question is his biological son.

Grandpa had a paper with him when he came down that stated in the event the wife is unavailable or will not make decisions then his son has power of attorney. There's a twelve hour drive between them and she was divorcing him so she was pretty unavailable.

He has a will and two life insurance policies. All of that was in the process of being transferred but the nursing home cancelled all of that due to his death and are now billing for 5k for three months, threatening to sue and citing misrepresentation of funds and elder abuse (they were claiming this because of the amount of time it took to get all of the documents they needed. Grandpas wife wasn't exactly helping us and we couldn't get in touch with his pension, etc ).

This is aside from the wife trying to say his son stole the social security check.

The account was solely in Grandpa's name. It was less than 90 days old and I'm wondering if they may have closed it due to a negative balance within those 90 days?? Unless she was able to call and close it somehow. The relative didn't know it was closed until we were asked by the nursing home to get three months of bank statements from his account and the joint account.

There are two executors to the will.
One is the wife and the other is his lawyers paralegal.

Then the debt belongs to his estate and his wife will be responsible, as the executor of his estate. Unless his son signed any financial responsibility paperwork at the nursing home, then he should not be responsible for the debt.

 

[Dandy Don]

The bank will not release any information about the bank accounts to anyone except the executor.

If widow submits the will to county probate court and if she wants to be executor, she is the only won with authority to claim any and all assets.

You need to be consulting with a probate attorney to find out if there is anything (the son) needs to be doing.

The comment about suing for misrepresentation of funds is just an empty threat>