Hello all,
Last year my mother asked my sister and I to start handling her financial affairs. She’s in her 80s now and is aware of her declining abilities. We have both agreed to do this for her. We get along well and don’t anticipate any major problems or disagreements regarding handling Mom’s finances. We all agreed that I will take the lead and my sister will be backup.
To this end I am looking for advice on setting up her existing bank and credit union accounts and a new Schwab account so that Mom can use them as she needs to, and that either I or my sister can independently act on each of the accounts as necessary when necessary with minimal to no interference or delay. Mom is not really computer literate so I’m guessing we will mostly just be monitoring her accounts and moving money for her as she needs, as well as setting up bill pays and such.
The Schwab account is because I have a Schwab account already and am familiar with their systems. Schwab also has physical offices near all of us. I do not want to commingle her accounts and my accounts; they need to stay completely separate. I have no problem with separate login credentials for my accounts and a separate one for me to access her accounts.
We have Mom’s power of attorney (registered in Texas). It has both our names on it and specifies that we may each act independently. Again, we’ve discussed this and don’t foresee any real difficulties. We both travel extensively and this seemed like the best way to insure she stays covered.
FWIW we are all three United States citizens residing in the United States. So far the only difficulty that we foresee is that Mom lives on the other side of the continent from us so any physical presence requirements for signatures or whatever will be difficult and will have to be fit in with other travel plans.
Here’s my thinking. Please poke holes and suggest alternatives or things I haven’t considered. Or even a ‘better way’. Or ways.
By being a joint owner, and also by having Mom’s POA recorded with the institution I hope to be able to keep things easy and straightforward for us.
However, in reading the various tales and stories in bogleheads and others having to do with eldercare and financial institutions and POAs and other things I know that it can’t be that straightforward (and I suspect just doing the above will be complicated and tedious enough).
So I’m asking advice on whether this approach is sufficient to the end goal, seems reasonable or not, doable or not. What other things do I need to consider? What will create problems and how to nullify those at the beginning. Better alternatives. Gotchas. Pointers. References. Checklists. Any and all that sort of thing.
Many thanks in advance.
Last year my mother asked my sister and I to start handling her financial affairs. She’s in her 80s now and is aware of her declining abilities. We have both agreed to do this for her. We get along well and don’t anticipate any major problems or disagreements regarding handling Mom’s finances. We all agreed that I will take the lead and my sister will be backup.
To this end I am looking for advice on setting up her existing bank and credit union accounts and a new Schwab account so that Mom can use them as she needs to, and that either I or my sister can independently act on each of the accounts as necessary when necessary with minimal to no interference or delay. Mom is not really computer literate so I’m guessing we will mostly just be monitoring her accounts and moving money for her as she needs, as well as setting up bill pays and such.
The Schwab account is because I have a Schwab account already and am familiar with their systems. Schwab also has physical offices near all of us. I do not want to commingle her accounts and my accounts; they need to stay completely separate. I have no problem with separate login credentials for my accounts and a separate one for me to access her accounts.
We have Mom’s power of attorney (registered in Texas). It has both our names on it and specifies that we may each act independently. Again, we’ve discussed this and don’t foresee any real difficulties. We both travel extensively and this seemed like the best way to insure she stays covered.
FWIW we are all three United States citizens residing in the United States. So far the only difficulty that we foresee is that Mom lives on the other side of the continent from us so any physical presence requirements for signatures or whatever will be difficult and will have to be fit in with other travel plans.
Here’s my thinking. Please poke holes and suggest alternatives or things I haven’t considered. Or even a ‘better way’. Or ways.
- * Set up Mom’s accounts as joint accounts with my sister and I as joint “or” tenants with survivorship.
* Fill out the institution’s power of attorney paperwork for my sister and I. I’m sure that each institution has their own variations and flavours of Power of Attorney supplemental paperwork.
By being a joint owner, and also by having Mom’s POA recorded with the institution I hope to be able to keep things easy and straightforward for us.
However, in reading the various tales and stories in bogleheads and others having to do with eldercare and financial institutions and POAs and other things I know that it can’t be that straightforward (and I suspect just doing the above will be complicated and tedious enough).
So I’m asking advice on whether this approach is sufficient to the end goal, seems reasonable or not, doable or not. What other things do I need to consider? What will create problems and how to nullify those at the beginning. Better alternatives. Gotchas. Pointers. References. Checklists. Any and all that sort of thing.
Many thanks in advance.
Statistics: Posted by ltgcc — Mon Jun 17, 2024 7:15 pm — Replies 3 — Views 280