Vested interest
[Orebell, just what is your vested interest in all this?]
Actually it is a little bit complicated. There are these two brothers, one is 75 and the other is 72. The older brother has the POA for the younger brother, who is in a nursing home. The older brother who is handling the younger brothers affairs complains a lot that he has been spending money on handing the younger brothers affairs. I told the older brother he should get reimbursed not only for his expenses such as gas, food, etc, but he should get reimbursed for his time as well.
For example, the younger brother has a single wide mobile home that has not been lived in a year and never will be again by the younger brother. The older brother has been trying to sell it. However, before it can be sold, it needed to e cleaned up. It was a complete disaster. I don't know how one man accumulated that much junk in such a small space. The older brother and I have made 6 trips (about an hour one way) and then spent most of the day sorting through stuff, giving stuff away, throwing stuff away, and cleaning the place. I told the older brother he should get reimbursed for the hours spent cleaning the place. The way I look at it is if the older brother did not do the work but hired someone, he would have to pay them. So what is the difference if he pays some one else or himself? I say none. So get reimbursed even if it is just minimum wage.
Where is gets complicated is here. As I said I have been helping the older brother deal with the younger brothers affairs. I know both guys pretty well and I started off helping because I really wanted to help the younger brother. As I have become more and more wrapped up in helping out of my own free will, one thing has become really really clear. That is that the older brother really has not done anything to really help the younger brother at all. Don't get me wrong the older brother has done some things, but nothing major like I have done.
To give you an example. The younger brother has some serious tax situations out there. One such situation has been where in 1990 he did not file a tax return. Actually he has not filed a tax return period since the 1980's going forward. However in 1990, the younger brother sold a house. The entire gain of the house was tagged as income. We are talking $190,000. He was taxed on that amount and never paid it. The result was the IRS slapped a lien on another house the younger brother owned and when it was sold last year, they took $50,000 from him. Well as it turns out, had the younger brother filed his tax return for 1990, he would have owed no tax at all on the house. Anyway, I am the one who contacted the IRS and did all the leg work and then once I discovered what happened, I filled out the tax return and sent it in. Hopefully, the younger brother will get most of that $50,000 back. Another situation is for tax year 2003. Since younger brother did not file tax returns, he traded appx $80,000 worth of stocks in 2003. The IRS wanted that return filed or they were going to tax him. I did all the work, going through some 250 stock trades for 2003 to figure out what was owed. It turns out the younger brother only owed $400 in taxes. I spent hours entering those stock trades for 2003 and then completed the tax return. The older brother did nothing. I did the same thing for 2002, 2001 and 2000 although those were on a much smaller scale. The older brother did nothing. The younger brother has about $20,000 in additional taxes due or paid already. I am working on 1992, 1988 and 1989 to hopefully reduce any taxes being owed or get back money that was paid last year via the liens on his house. Again, the older brother has done nothing.
I think about 6 months into helping the younger brother, I realized that the older brother would not do anything. The question I asked is who would take care of these things if the older brother would not do it. The answer is no one. There is no family to speak of. At least none close enough to do the work that needs to be done. There is no spouse and no children to speak of either. Someone had to do something or this man would loose pretty much everything he has.
The older brother claims that the reason he has not done some of these things is because he does not know how. I told him that if he does not know how, then hire a pro. He does not want to do that because that would be taking part of his brothers money. My answer was if something is not done, your brother will lose everything. I don't think he believed me. However, I just could not sit back and let it happen. I had to do something. The things talked about are only part of what I have done for the younger brother but there is no need to share all I have done.
I think where it gets complicated is when I hear the older brother complain that he has no money and has put put his own money out for his brother, I suggest to him to get reimbursed for real expenses as well as time, I feel like I should be getting reimbursed as well. Hey, if the younger brother can get reimbursed for his time and he has done virtually nother, why shouldn't I?
I started off helping the younger brother with no expectations at all. My goal was to help salvage as much as I could for the younger brother. He may need it for medical care, who knows. It has been a challenge to get things accomplished for the younger brother and it feels good to have some success. However, when the older brother started complaing about money, when I have put in 10 times the amount of time he has, I am starting to get bitter. I have never asked for a penny to be reimbursed for my time.
I have come to the conclusion that the older brother should not have power of attorney over his brother. Of course, I really have nothing to say about that, but that is the way I feel.
Anyway, sorry for the long post.
