This is a serious question regarding being power of attorney. Recently, my neighbour passed away. My mother took care of him during his illness with Dementia since 2001 while his real family didn’t want to have anything to do with him. My mother was power of attorney while this man was alive. Before he was sent into a nursing home, my mother took care of this man. She drove him to all his medical appointments, cooked all his meals, chased him around town so he wouldn’t get into trouble, pulled him out of bars, lost vacation time at work to take care of him and maintained his house before he fell seriously ill. When he was diagnosed with Dementia, she went through the whole process of getting him in a nursing home and she had to purchase a cell phone because she was on call 24/7 for his needs. The time that it took to care for him took away from her full-time position and her family.
I understand that the power of attorney ends at the time of death. My mom arranged the funeral, contacted family and the estate has been left to his niece on his wife’s side of the family. Is there a law that my mother should be awarded 5% of the estate? She was next of kin on the death certificate.
The niece is threatening to take my mother to court due to extra withdrawals that were made from his account while he was alive. The moneys were used for car maintenance, gas and holidays which she had to book for emergencies for him.
The niece in question had rarely visited him while he was residing in a retirement home and at the nursing home. Does my mother have any rights in this matter?
"almost nothing in your question matters.
the niece gets the whole thing. your mom should bill the estate for any expenses she incurred on this man’s behalf that were not reimbursed."
All the money that was used was from his account. My mother had access to his account while she was power of attorney, therefor, nothing can be reimbursed.
Will my mom need to pay back the money that was taken out of the account to take care of him? The niece expected to have plenty of money when she got the will but there is hardly anything left in the account. Now she is threatning to take my mother to court regarding this.
Sorry for the confusion.