Thanks, Kim, this advice is good to know.
KiminCalifornia wrote:Estate Planning:
Make sure the patient (someone who has already been diagnosed) is not named as a trustee or you will have to go through the procedure of getting the patient removed when he is no longer capable of handling the finances and daily living.
You’d hope that most states would have a fairly straightforward process of removing a trustee.
My spouse and I are considering a revocable living trust with just her and our daughter as trustees. That way if I end up dealing with dementia then I’m not a trustee and removal wouldn’t be an issue. Of course if my spouse loses her cognition first then I’d have to have enough of my own assets/income (outside of the RLT) to not care about the possibility of losing control of the trust’s assets. Or I’d really have to trust our daughter.
KiminCalifornia wrote:Setting up the accounts so that all pensions and SSI money is directly deposited is great. A trusted member of the family or close friend should be named on the account (especially the person who obtains the POAs.) I recommend that in the last days of the family member, their accounts be drained of most of the money. Often banks will deny access to an account when there has been a death and most people need that money to pay for funerals and to back the last month of Social Security Benefits (that's right, SSI will require that you repay the last month of SSI.) Military pensions will require that you pay back the last month of the decedent's pension but then they will send you a prorated amount for the days they were still alive in that month. SSI isn't so generous.
KiminCalifornia wrote:Usually, if someone is on the account they can use the account until one jt dies and then it depends on the bank. Sometimes they put a temporary hold on the money until they are sure that they are on legal footing. I simply avoided all of that by telling my clients to remove the money when they thought the end was near. I used to advise them to keep enough money in the account to keep it open so that monthly deposits would still be deposited. It's strange, but I've seen different banks do different things when it comes to trusts and dead trustors/trustees (the account should be in the name of the trust if you have one.) A caretaker or trusted child, family member, or friend, should be the trustee by the time the loved one is dying. After seeing banks do some absolutely crazy things, I don't trust them as far as I can throw their President.
Dad died on 18 November 2017 and Social Security never requested repayment of their 3 November deposit to his checking account. If that’s a problem then I hope I’d be notified by now.
When my father died (and before I notified his his bank, ANB Bank in Colorado), I transferred all but $1 out of his checking account. In retrospect, I wish I’d tried to transfer that dollar out too.
When I eventually notified ANB Bank of Dad’s death (and forwarded the death certificate), they locked me out of the account... and then they wouldn’t release the dollar. Dad had designated every other account and asset as “Payable On Death” or “Transfer On Death” except for that checking account, and as conservator I wasn’t authorized to change his designation. ANB insisted that I had to have the probate court issue the letter of designation as personal representative (as named in the will) and then submit the letter and the will to ANB. At that point they would’ve issued two checks (50 cents each) to my brother and me. They probably would’ve mailed them in envelopes with 49-cent stamps.
I’d disbursed the rest of my father’s estate as a conservator & heir, not as a personal representative (executor), and I wasn’t going to jump through the probate-court hoops for a buck. ANB wouldn’t budge. It’s not about the dollar, it’s about deviating from a policy which involves potential liability.
To add insult to injury, ANB is still sending monthly statements. Since I'm locked out of the account, I can't turn off the statements.
That’ll probably continue for another six or seven years until they can turn the $1 (plus interest!) over to the state as abandoned property.
KiminCalifornia wrote:I was on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Alzheimer's Association (never again) and we discovered that 70-75% of the caretakers were dying before the patient.
Can you discuss the “never again” part? Never again on that particular board, or never again on any Alzheimer’s board, or never again on any board?
Does anyone have any statistics, references, or links on caregivers dying before their patients? I understand the issues but I’ve never seen any reported numbers.