Indiana Filer
Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Indiana
My mother-in-law gave my sister-in-law Power of Attorney several years ago. SIL has not really had to do anything with the POA until recently. My MIL fell and is in the hospital. We're not sure if she's going to make it. In addition to the injuries from the fall, she's been showing signs of dementia for about the last year, with it getting worse in the past couple months.
MIL transferred the properties over to the three kids several years ago, but we just discovered that my MIL has an unusually large amount of money in her checking account which is only in MIL's name. We had a family meeting tonight, and the children have decided that they would like to take the money in the checking account and place it in three separate accounts, with each account being in the name of MIL and one of the children.
Most importantly, if MIL doesn't pass away, they want the money to be used for her care if she would need to go into a nursing home or for care to keep her in her home. There's enough for several months of very good nursing home care. There's no problem with the lookback period for medicare since they aren't trying to get medicare to pay for a nursing home. They're just trying to reduce how much would be in the estate if MIL does pass away so that inheritance taxes are reduced.
The question: Would it be legal for the POA to take the money out of the checking account to put it into these three separate accounts?
I realize that, if the accounts are created, any of the three could decide to take the money out and do whatever with it even before their mother's death. I believe that my husband's siblings would not do that to their mother. I know my husband wouldn't (because he knows I'd kill him if he did!)
My mother-in-law gave my sister-in-law Power of Attorney several years ago. SIL has not really had to do anything with the POA until recently. My MIL fell and is in the hospital. We're not sure if she's going to make it. In addition to the injuries from the fall, she's been showing signs of dementia for about the last year, with it getting worse in the past couple months.
MIL transferred the properties over to the three kids several years ago, but we just discovered that my MIL has an unusually large amount of money in her checking account which is only in MIL's name. We had a family meeting tonight, and the children have decided that they would like to take the money in the checking account and place it in three separate accounts, with each account being in the name of MIL and one of the children.
Most importantly, if MIL doesn't pass away, they want the money to be used for her care if she would need to go into a nursing home or for care to keep her in her home. There's enough for several months of very good nursing home care. There's no problem with the lookback period for medicare since they aren't trying to get medicare to pay for a nursing home. They're just trying to reduce how much would be in the estate if MIL does pass away so that inheritance taxes are reduced.
The question: Would it be legal for the POA to take the money out of the checking account to put it into these three separate accounts?
I realize that, if the accounts are created, any of the three could decide to take the money out and do whatever with it even before their mother's death. I believe that my husband's siblings would not do that to their mother. I know my husband wouldn't (because he knows I'd kill him if he did!)
