Legal address after move to assisted living?

I think if you change his address with SS, Medicare will get the change. Medicaid should be informed but you should have gotten paperwork for next year and on that you would have put a change of address. I suggest that you ask both that mail comes to you. At Moms AL the PO came into the facility and filled the boxes. If a room no. wasn't on the envelope it would go in a pile. The facility would give them to the resident. I found them in Moms basket. I found a second request, never saw the first. Had a fight with the hospital they had to bill Mom at the AL because that was her resident even though I explained I paid the bills. Called their billing dept about something and was told there was no problem billing my address and changed it. 9

carolsmith1, ah yes, finding unopened mail on my Dad's desk and active bills in his wastepaper basket and in the recycling bin.

Since I had all of Dad's on-line accounts available, plus knowing the answers to his security questions, it was fairly easy to switch all his accounts to my home address.

Dad use to fuss whenever he got the monthly bill from the senior facility where he lived, so I had to keep after the facility to please please please mail it directly to me, and NO copies given to Dad. Otherwise Dad would start talking about moving out. Earth to facility, common sense here, folks :P

As for Medicaid, since each State manages their own Medicaid, it would be best to give them a call. As for Medicare, I believe I went on-line and at that time was able to give a "billing address" and a "residential address".

I have my address for my dad because he can't deal with his mail.

Medicare told me it needs to be a viable address, one they can contact him at. I can call him if need be so they said it's good. They are concerned that the person has passed and they haven't been notified, that's the reason for them having an address.

I don't know about Medicaid but you can give them your address as mailing address and the AL as physical address.

This is very common in lots of situations.

I would call Medicaid and Medicare to discuss this. You can probably do it over the phone if you have POA.

When Dad could no longer handle his affairs (and prior to his being declared incompetent), Medicare, utilities, banks and most all other communications simply required me to provide them with a copy of Dad's POA. Some even accepted a .pdf copy via email attachment, but most required a physical copy. The VA never accepts POA, so I had to go through the VA custodian process to become VA fiduciary (get your county's VA office help with this, it's free). Finally, some financial institutions require use of their own forms, imprinted with their corporate name and drafted by their own corporate lawyers, to certify I could act on Dad's behalf. Forwarding documents and filling out forms is frustrating, but you can do it, even if only as each bill or statement comes in. I never dealt with Medicaid so I don't know how that works. But Social Security easily accepted Dad's POA.

I went through this earlier this year, after moving my parents into assisted living. Technically social security manages Medicare. Social Security will not change the address or do anything without the principal being involved. So either your dad has to be involved or you have To apply to become a representative payee in order to do things as simple as change their address.

keep it at your address. You are the POA. You make sure you are recognized by all government entities that you are.

I haven't done that. If there is a requirement, no one made that clear, or enforced any sanctions as of yet because of the fact .

Mom's last legal address is my house since she lived with me for 5 years before going to the AL facility. She panics when she gets mail other than the church newsletter now. It's just easier to keep having her mail sent to me and then I pay the bills, deposit checks in her account, and work with her trustee to take care of any legal matters. The literally hundreds of charity requests (some legit, some not) get thrown out.

I appreciate everyone’s answers. My mom is in assisted-living with dementia and doesn’t remember her mail either. She too had bills unpaid. Now I receive all her mail as POA. I did not officially go through Medicare\SS because she had automatic deposit. Do I still need to talk to Medicare\SS? Has anyone had any issues about the two different addresses? I live in CA and she lives in AZ.

You will need to notify Medicaid and Medicare of his move in date and any other changes. All mail can come directly to you, and will keep your address as POA.

My Mom is in assisted living also. This is the easiest part of everything you will be running into from now till whenever!

All you need provide Medicare/Medicaid with your POA (original). They will take a copy to place in their files. You will need to provide his new address BUT your address will be the address for notification.

Mom's comes to me as:
Mom's name
C/O my name
My address

Be sure you also provide all of this to Social Security for his SSA benefits. You will need to provide the account number to auto deposit. You WILL NEED TO PROVE you're POA again. The account MUST BE A POA OR GUARDIANSHIP. You will be asked HOW OFTEN YOU WILL BE VISITING YOUR FATHER. Each year you will be required to fill out a report and proof regarding expenditures of his money.

The assisted Living will need copies of his Medicare/Medicaid card, hopefully he has the new one that no longer has his SSN on it. Make sure you keep his card because you will need it for many many things i.e. any medical history, hospitalizations, claims.

Do not allow any mail to be sent to the assisted living. The one Mom now resides holds any mail sent by mistake, SEALED and gives to me when I go to visit etc every month.

I am POA for my sister(dementia) in Assisted Living. Her SS check is auto deposited into her checking account bank and then facility receives an auto payment monthly. Easy without lots of address changes. I didn't want her SS
check to go automatically to AL in the event she moved from AL facility. All her mail comes to my address.

I've been reading answers regarding these issues.
I'm not an expert, just someone who has gone thru the painstaking system.

GOOGLE Estate laws for your STATE!
GOOGLE NOTARY LAWS. These are revised by the Secretary of State, so you may need extra paperwork and the Notary may not know what is needed. I was lucky that the Notary who wrote up a document did not do the entire job per the Law change.

I googled, talked with family attorney friends and researched and researched for 5 yrs to be prepared to contest, family issues.

Those issues so far are gone because those involved decided they did not want to deal with Mom now. I was ready to do what was needed to protect Mom.

ANY investment accounts, get flagged just in case Mom or Dad has checks to withdraw money. NO ONE CAN BE TRUSTED....BELIEVE ME ON THIS.

NOTHING IS SIMPLE HERE, NOTHING, NO MATTER WHAT STATE IS INVOLVED.

IS YOUR STATE COMMUNITY OR COMMON LAW? There are ONLY 9 States that are Community Property, but operate in different ways.
ALASKA is Community property BUT couples can OPT OUT which then makes their marriage COMMON property.

Michigan is Common property. IF all of the property is in the name of 1 spouse, ALL PROPERTY BELONGS TO THAT 1 SPOUSE. Lot of paperwork needs to be done if something happens. The Court will determine how everything will be handled. No Will, ANYONE CAN MAKE CLAIM TO ESTATE.

Rremember....STILL WATERS RUN DEEP

Research extensively and ask questions. Each State has a group of new attorneys who help, some services are free or small fee.

Expect the ELEMENT OF SURPRISE once you dig deeper into your State laws regarding something as simple as taking care of your parent(s).

Many people "think" they're entitled to an inheritance even though they're not in the Will. You may be son/daughter, niece/nephew, brother/sister/cousin. Just because YOU think you are entitled DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE. SURPRISE!!

YOU COULD BE REPORTED TO ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES....ABUSE OF AN ELDERLY PERSON FOR FINANCIAL GAIN.....POA PEOPLE DOES NOT EXEMPT YOU FROM THIS. GUARDIAN/CONSERVATOR DOES NOT PROTECT YOU.

My step-sister did this to me through the bank. Laughed my big butt off (smaller now) BECAUSE I'M A FORMER BANKER AND I KNOW WHAT ONE HAS TO DO SO I'M NOT GUILTY OF ANYTHING!!

Now the step-sister is finding out she's in deep doo-doo. I'm going to use the possibility of fraud charges against her to get her to stop what she "thinks" they are entitled and she's finding out she's messing with the wrong person AND HER ATTORNEY FINALLY KNOWS THAT TOO!

PROTECT YOURSELF FOR THE UNEXPECTED PEOPLE. AGAIN, NO ONE IS GOING TO TELL YOU WHAT IS REQUIRED OR TOTALLY HOLD YOUR HAND TO PROTECT YOU.

Here's another SURPRISE...EVEN IF AN ATTORNEY STATES THEY ARE FAMILY LAW....RESEARCH HOW EXTENSIVE THEIR BACKGROUND IS REGARDING FAMILY LAW. GET IN TOUCH WITH THE ABA!! My step-sister's "FAMILY LAW" attorney advised her about what she could do. NOT!! Told step-sister and sent me a letter that I did not have legal right to change locks on house or keep them from accessing the house! The house is Mom's sole/separate property...YES I CAN! She must have been asleep that day in class. I legally retitled the vehicles into Mom's Estate and my name. They want the truck, give me what I want or buy it from me.

Just because the attorney states they're Family Law doesn't make it so.

Get the picture now?

In Ohio:
For 14 years I was the principal caregiver, DPOA, and advocate for my father in his home. He has been in a memory care unit (Lewy body dementia) for a year now.
I changed his address to mine, sometimes creating more work for me. No mail goes to his facility, except greeting cards for his birthday and holidays. He takes no interest in them; I’m the one that opens and displays them.
Since I am the trustee of his irrevocable trust, I had to establish a separate trustee checking account for items in the trust that I sold for funding his care.
Since the federal government does not recognize POA, I had to establish a representative payee checking account for his SS direct deposit; they would not continue to deposit his check into his checking account. (They said they did not want him to have access to those funds - like he is physically/mentally capable, much less be able to write a check!) I spent about an hour at the SSA office answering questions - swearing everything I told was the truth under penalty of perjury from the law, and signing paperwork for them to do a background check on me. Plus, I get to fill out paperwork at the end of each year to prove accountability- that this money went for his care. 🤪
He was just recently approved by the VA for pension, aid and attendance. The elder care attorney helped with the paperwork, and I did not need to have a fiduciary account-the VA agreed to deposit it into his established checking account. So, at this time, I am only writing checks from two different accounts to pay for his monthly rent at the facility.
Next comes the preplanned funeral.

WHEW! What a mountain of paperwork and red tape a person must go through to do right by the elderly parent (my mother died unexpectedly 15 yrs ago). Until his money starts to get low, I will not file for Medicaid. I don’t care if I get anything as an inheritance - my parents worked hard all their work life, while raising three kids, to save for their ‘golden years’. I love the place where he is - they take such great care of him! Unfortunately, at this time, they do not accept Medicaid at his MC facility - I would have to relocate him. 😢

Where do you live? - I as I was joint on mom's account I just left everything going into that - I changed everything to my address because I didn't want to lose anything important - all I had to do is bring in my POA papers -

However when I did so another bank officer was someone I had gone to high school with so she vouched for me - but even then I had to show my driver's license for official ID

When we cleaned out the house we found bank statements under the shelf lining in the linen closet & money inside a decorative towel - we sold a bureau & the auctioneer found 6 $50 bills in an envelope even though we thought we had searched it - check everywhere!

Medicare and/or Medicaid should be advised of the change of residence for the elder, but mail should come to you, else the elder would get confused.

Joint bank account is easiest. Dad’s SS and pension are direct deposit and brother is on all accounts. Dad moved 3 states away so I could take care of him. Never changed a thing. His bills get paid, Mail gets forwarded to brother. House sold.
We both have POA but never needed it -the safe deposit box is a totally different story. My dad can’t get into it without a court order because mom passed away and it was joint. He will never get into it. Paperwork is impossible to complete for the bank to inventory the contents prior to the court ordering it emptied. It has taken months thus far. (New York) do yourself a favor and empty it if both names are on it. Once one person passes, it’s VERY hard for the remaining person to open it.

Thank you all for taking the time to answer. You have given me a lot to think about. I was hoping the answer would be it did not matter but now I see there are things to think about, Much appreciated- you guys are the best!!

I would guess you at least have to provide your father's physical address where he is living BUT you should make sure all his mail comes to you so you can take care of it. He should not get it but they should have his proper address to prevent problems. I know that many people in the assisted living facility where I live now because I can't walk live here but their families get their mail. Check with the County Office on Aging and Medicare and Medicaid as to their rules. Be safe rather than sorry.

When I spoke with Medicare and Social Security to have the address changed I explained the situation to them. They deal with this all of the time. I explained that I was the POA and that mail should be sent to my address, and I think they also have her address at the memory care facility. In my mother's case, important mail would get buried in her piles of papers because she could not recognize what was important and what was not. She didn't let me know about important letters.
Nancy