I am Primary POA and my sister is successor POA. My Dad needs to move from independent care in my city to an assisted living facility. I asked her to look in her town ( 3 hrs away- another state). She said if he goes to her city she needs to be Primary POA. Does the will/trust need to be changed to reflect that if I step down from Primary? And is Primary POA responsible for being the caregiver?
You don't need to be POA just because your the oldest or nearest to Dad. I really think the person who is assigned POA should sign saying they accept the responsibility. There are people who have no idea they have been assigned.
The one with POA is in control of the money and property. If you have medical power of attorney, that's control over medical care. Both are legal documents NOT associated with a trust or will. But the person with POA can take money to do things in the best interest of their person. Things can get very shady here if there's money or property that will be left to the heirs and the POA wants to get creative. For example, you could pay yourself for visiting your dad, or paying his bills…something that he didn't specify in POA.
This article from the American Bar Association spells it out nicely.
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/real_property_trust_estate/resources/estate_planning/power_of_attorney/#:~:text=A%20power%20of%20attorney%20allows,creating%20a%20revocable%20living%20trust
Am I correct in assuming that your father made an Irrevocable Trust? Meaning that the Medicaid look-back period has passed and now his assets are Medicaid-exempt. Changing the POA does not change the conditons of his trust.
As for his will, whoever is named as the executor in that document is the one who is in charge of administering the will after his death. POA expires when someone passes. Their will is handled by whoever is the executor of their will.
It would make sense for you to transfer the POA over to your sister if you are going to be living 3 hours away from where he is. Your sister will be the one handling the day to day business for your father and you should transfer it over. The terms of his trust and will won't be affected by it.
Wills and Trusts have nothing to do with POA whatsoever. A will appoints an executor to manage and distribute the estate AFTER DEATH. A Trust appoints a successor trustee to manage the trust and/or distribute it AFTER DEATH.
A POA manages a person who is incompetent to make his or her own decisions, yet the appointment of the POA must be done when that person IS COMPETENT.
I feel much as your Sister does. I would not be doing all that work and having the senior in my town without being the POA. The POA is the one who does that work, so that means you could take a vacation where your senior is going to move and get him all moved in, make yourself responsible to pay his assets for his care, have yourself registered with the banks as financial POA there, have yourself registered with MDs as medical and general POA where he will be living.
Why would you remain the POA if you are not doing the work? Why would your sister want to take on this onerous task if she is not the appointed POA, and as I said that can no longer be changed.
You CAN, as POA, appoint someone to do jobs, tasks, and pay them to do so. Say a Fiduciary. Or you could hire your sister and pay her out of father's assets if that can be afforded, or, as I said, take off some time from your job to do this. Or you can hire a Licensed Certified Fiduciary to do these tasks; that is within your power as POA dependent on how the POA is worded. A POA document tells you exactly what you can do.
I sure wish you the best. This is a big job. Sis is appointed to do it if you resign, if you can no longer manage it, or you wish to resign and have her automatically take over.
Best of luck.
The difficult bit is WHY sister said “if he goes to her city she needs to be Primary POA”. Has she been told this, and if so by whom? Why does she think it? And lastly, is it a good idea anyway? We do hear stories of a POA who refuses to authorise or allow payment for things that the actual carer thinks are important (about money – maximise the POA's inheritance). We also hear stories of a POA who benefits themselves and can’t be challenged (also about money).
So it’s a good idea to find out who is pushing this, to assess your mutual ‘trust’ levels, and to talk through what happens if there is a disagreement.
It's always better and a whole lot easier for everyone if their POA is local.
I can understand your sibling's desire to obtain the POA. If she will be "the closest person," she expects that she will be called on for decisions and during medical emergencies. This does not need to happen. You can be the primary POA no matter how near or far you live from your loved one. I suggest you talk with her some more about what she is concerned about if she does not have POA.
About 6 months after my LO entered a very good local MC, my “fellow” POA moved 1,000 away.
Guess who was left to “care” for our LO? If you’re thinking that “caring” can be managed from a distance, you may need to re-think.
I’m curious about comments about levels of trust. Personally, I’d rather not be trusted to take on full caregiving duties if one of my family members deems me not to be trusted with POA. I’m absolutely open to sharing those duties (POA, too). Funny…no one in my family is taking my offer.
POA and Medical POA have nothing to do with being a primary caregiver. Caregiver is the person tending to the patients needs for all or part of each day. If he's in IL now and moving to AL, it sounds like he's still pretty able-bodied and may just have a few hours of caregiving provided by you/outside help.
I was their primary caregiver, girlfriend to the other son.