My 82 year old aunt is currently in a nursing home facility for rehabilitation. She also has a mild case of demetia. We do not expect her to be returning to her apartment. At this point we are still paying rent for her apartment and will continue to do so through December. I am her niece and she has granted me POA. She has a granddaughter that has not been very involved in the process since she became ill. When the time comes to clean out her unit, I am not sure who has right to what items? She has a lot of antiques and I do not just want those items be donated to charity. She does have a will so I do not want people to just stake claims on items. I want to put her things in storage until we can figure out a plan to make sure all her things are taken well care.
As POA you should be able to pay her bills, rent an apartment or buy her a slot in an assisted living facility (providing she has significant savings). If she can manage to stay in her apartment with home health aides and/or companions you can use her income (social security, pensions, investment income) to pay for the home health aides to be with her. This arrangement is generally far less costly if her health permits it.
Given the high prices for NH and ALF, I would keep her in her apartment with
full time aides if possible. However, you may need to do a placement. As POA you will be dealing with signing her up for Medicaid as she exhausts her funds on the NH and ALF expenses.
Lastly if she was in the military or has a spouse who served investigate if she can qualify for a program called "Aid and Assistance" which may help pay for home health aide services.
Good Luck. You will learn alot helping your aunt.
Elizabeth
Is a 'Last Will & Testament' any good if the person with dementia signed it before her dementia started to show signs n only has one grown son? Can the property be taking away by Medicade if say, later she needs to go into a NH n passes away n was able to go on Medicaid?
I don't think that furniture is generally considered "assets" but perhaps very valuable antiques would be. Maybe there is someone here who is knowledgeable o that point.
IF they are assets, they would probably need to be liquidating and the money spent before Aunt would qualify for Medicaid.
If they are not technically assets then Medicaid would have no interest in them.