Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

powers of attorney

Q&A: Who can help older adults pay bills and manage money?

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Dear Liz: Who can I hire to do my bill-paying when (or if) I get into very old age? If I die first, no problem. My wife has sons to turn to. But if she goes first, I may need help managing my money. I’m sure many folks are in my situation, with no family to call on.

Who helps single, childless old folks pay their bills?

Answer: Professionals known as daily money managers can help with a number of routine financial tasks, including paying bills, organizing financial records and handling insurance paperwork.

They can help with budgeting and monitor accounts to protect clients from theft and scams. They serve older adults, people with disabilities, the neurodivergent (such as people with attention-deficit issues), busy professionals and small business owners, among others.

You can learn more at the American Assn. of Daily Money Managers. Use the orange “Find a DMM” button at the top of the organization’s home page to search for daily money managers near you.

You also may be able to get referrals from your tax pro, estate planning attorney, financial planner or local Area Agency on Aging. Before you hire anyone, you’ll want to ask about their experience, certifications, fee schedule and professional insurance.

What a daily money manager typically can’t do is take control of your finances if you become incapacitated.

For that, you and your wife should both have durable powers of attorney for finances that name trusted people who can make money decisions if you can’t. If you don’t have anyone you trust, talk to your estate planning attorney about professional fiduciaries who may be able to help.

Q&A: Financial institutions reject powers of attorney

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Dear Liz: I read your column about the parent who unexpectedly had to take over for their incapacitated son. You suggested every adult have a power of attorney and healthcare proxy. Excellent advice! However, as I discovered in dealing with my father’s illness and estate, these general documents are not always recognized by the very institutions they were designed for. His bank, mortgage company and health insurance company would only recognize their versions of these documents.

Fortunately, while he was still able to, I was able to procure each of these documents with his signatures on them but it was very stressful at a difficult time for all of us. I would suggest you amend your advice to people to check to see if their banks and so on also require their specific forms.

Answer: Financial institutions are supposed to accept properly drafted powers of attorney, but some of them insist on their own forms, agrees Burton Mitchell, an estate planning attorney in Los Angeles.

“Sometimes one can get around these rules by appealing to higher ups in the organization, but it is unnecessarily difficult, time-consuming and complicated,” Mitchell says.

Checking with your financial institutions now could avoid hassles later.

Elderly mom isn’t the only one overdue for estate planning

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Dear Liz: Could you advise us on how to protect our 93-year-old mother’s assets if she should become ill or die? She does not have a living will or a trust regarding her two properties.

Answer: “If” she should become ill or die? Your mother has been fortunate to have had a long life, presumably without becoming incapacitated, but her luck can’t hold out forever.

Your mother needs several legal documents to protect both herself and her assets. Perhaps the most important are powers of attorney for healthcare and for finances. These documents allow people she designates to make medical decisions and handle her finances for her should she become incapacitated. In addition, she may want to fill out a living will, which would outline the life-prolonging care she would and wouldn’t want if she can’t make her wishes known. (In some states, living wills are combined with powers of attorney for healthcare, and in others they are separate documents.)

These legal papers aren’t important just for the elderly, by the way. You should have these too, since a disabling illness or accident can happen to anyone.

Your mother also should consider a will or a living trust that details how she wants to parcel out her estate to her heirs. Of the two documents, wills tend to be simpler and cheaper to draft, but a living trust means the court process known as probate can be avoided. The probate process is public, and in some states (particularly California) it can be protracted and expensive. A living trust also could make it easier for someone to take over managing her finances in case of incapacity or death.

You can find an attorney experienced in estate planning by contacting your state’s bar association. Expertise and competence are important, so you may want to look for a lawyer who is a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, an invitation-only group that includes many of the best in this field.

If she or you are trying to protect her assets from long-term care or other medical costs, you’ll need someone experienced in elder care law to advise you. You can get referrals from the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys at http://www.naela.org.