Getting Power of Attorneys for Your Parents
Posted by: Aazdak Alisimo in Family, tags: FamilyYour parents have taken care of you from the very day you were born. Ah, but what happens as you all get older? The pendulum swings and suddenly you need to consider helping them out when it comes to money matters.
Criminal minds are always looking for opportunities. When it comes to seniors, they see a golden one. Just about every scam has been used to separate seniors from their money. Cities have to set up entire departments to fight the scams.
So, who are the targets? Often, the primary target is a widow or widower who does not have a history of handling the finances of the couple, but now must do to the passing of the individual who did.
The scam artists then implement a wide variety of scams. There are so many that it is impossible to go through them all. The one constant, however, is to get the victim to voluntarily move money to the criminal. You have one weapon against this.
The simplest way to keep seniors from being scammed is to take the decision making process away from them when it comes to their finances. The power of attorney is a legal document that does just that.
A power of attorney is used to delineate legally who has authority in certain situations. In this case, we are talking about who has control of financial issues, but they can also be used in situations such as authority for making health care decisions.
With a financial power of attorney, you can control a wide variety of things. The most important is probably the bank account of a senior. When the bank is given proper notice, the senior essentially loses the authority to write checks, which stops scams.
Given the incredibly power this document confers, it should be no surprise that it is a highly regulated legal agreement. With this in mind, do not buy a form or try to do it yourself. Use an attorney or risk having it ruled invalid down the line.
Discussing legal issues with mom and dad is not easy. That being said, it has to be done. If you do not address the issue, you run the risk of one or both of them being scammed and having major financial problems. It is not a risk worth taking.
Keep in mind, some elder parents will be happy to turn over the financial chores to you. With age comes a certain acceptance level. Some, of course, will fight the decision tooth and nail. It is ultimately their life, so sometimes you just have to live with it.
As baby boomers enter their later years, financial scams are on the rise. While a power of attorney is not a mandatory tool, it makes sense in a lot of cases.
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