My father became ill with active TB two years ago at which time I brought him to my home to live with my family and care for him. My name as well as my 2 others siblings names have been on his checking account since my mom and dad opened it more than 20 years ago. I wrote checks to pay for my dad's bills and to get him cash and when I wrote a check for anything I wrote what it was for in the comment section. During this time he did help with groceries and when I was not working and was home caring for him (he has dementia) I did okay it with him and paid some bills on occasion from his account. He has recently went to live with my brother(because he would not allow me to have someone come in and stay with him while I worked during the day). Now my brother is accusing me of having stolen 15000 to 20000 dollars from my father!! I am beside myself, I never took anything from his account without his permission and everything that was paid from that account. Sad thing about it my Dad is going to do whatever my brother says for him to do. Can anyone please give me any advice on what I can do?
She hated Walmarts cough syrup?? huh? but really liked Walgreens stuff? hummm? 1st red flag I was initially tickled by, she was as far as I knew not like one to even take a whole aspirin, but I noticed the stuff she liked was the real deal codeine and the stuff that pissed her off to no end was hyrocodone, which she had in pill form by the vat that she seemed to not mow through like the cough syrup! Rappers had just made the Purple drank a hip thing to imbibe I read, which amused me but in hind sight should have really made me re think this whole idea of being her care giver, it was an all encompassing 24-7 job and she was becoming seemingly grouchy, especially after Feb 2011 and Pradaxa was prescribed to her and she was poisoned immediately, I knew it, I saw it, I called the Dr and said she is really sick! worse now!, It was to be expected, she has an appointment next week(standing order blood, urine tests weekly) but I took her to the ER the next day and she was almost dead requiring 4 pints of blood and 2 plasma and weighing 105, most of her blood was gone! They told me I saved her life. Her life and mine would be forever changed after this drug Pradaxa was given to her, she had zero energy, could not eat but wanted to, had a sore spot in her stomach but it was a risk to even explore they said not worth it as at her age nothing could be done, she had a series of mini strokes, became paranoid and delusional to a degree not apparent without discussion when she would show me a scratch on a piece of furniture or a picture and say I trimmed the pictures edges! or scratched the furniture not accidentally but maliciously! I knew there was a really mean aspect of her but I was never the one she was directing it to ever before in my life which makes me ashamed now as I was fine as long as I was not being abused, I would not let my little brother be abused but I was used in her abusing others.
I grew up with a narcissistic,sociopathic dysfunctional ,emotionally violent,
drug addicted, sexually abusive family & I thank God they are no longer in my
life.My Grandmother made me call her "Nana"
Being called Grandma was not to her liking.
Nana never liked my Mom,my Stepmom,my Uncles girlfriends or 1 of mine.
(my GF Patty slavishly doted on my Gma for 2 years 24 - 7,unpaid,promised)
My Mother told me about her , shewas victimized even after my parents split up by my Grandmothers catty instructions for me to give my mother, how to wash my clothes in cold water! not hot! It seems when my Mom(17)
(pregnant by her can do no wrong #1 son,my Father,19)
washed my Dads clothes in hot water, a mistake she paid for the rest of my childhood ,I unwittingly was used to punish my mother from afar by telling her what My Grandmother insisted was imperative my mother be told how to wash my new clothes , the continuous message saying,she has no clue how to wash clothes. She always said my Mom refused to work,was lazy,messy,even that she had dated greasy Mexicans while my Dad had us for 1 weekend a month.
She told me she was kissing a greasy mexican when my dad peered into her windows! I did not see the weirdness in him doing so or her telling me this then, but now it all floods back to me. I was sick and avoided kissing my mom which made her interogate me about why boy was she mad and sickened.
My mom was greedy & getting alimony and child support my Dad was too young to be straddled with 3 kids by the time I was 5.
My Moms alimony was $15a week for 1 yr,child support $75 a mo for 3
kids!We had to move to a terrible neighborhood in Pomona,
all moms fault too, My Dad vanished to Montana withNanas family, my Grandparents would not tell my Mom where he was or how to reach him for over a year, My Mom refused to allow me to go camping with them as a
result,I heard their warning to her as they left,
We will get you for this.
The next morning at 6am the door is being beaten on by 2 Pomona cops,
1 a buddy of My Grandfathers named Ronald McDonald & had red hair!
they went through our entire house, closets, cupboards,drawers they inspected our bodies for marks,they looked for pot and to see if the housewas dirty.
My Mom was terrified ,I was crying, scared to be taken cause I knew that
people smoked pot,namely my Dad and Uncle and I was not sure pot was not everywhere!Thank God they found nothing or I might have been in CPS
forever just to punish my Mom.
To those who have experienced the "shame" of exclusion, do not discount the likely fact your parent(s)having some psychological disorder such as NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) or BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder).
You may have conducted life and contributions (emotional, financial and psychological) with what you considered appropriate care and respect. If one or both parents and/or sibling(s) exhibit the symptoms of these disorders, chances are that you are who was unfortunately selected by your being a loving caregiver to be unworthy of the respect, love and self-esteem that anyone would expect.The narcissist often has a nasty "pecking order" created by your parent having to do with which child(ren) provide that disturbed adult with appropriate "narcissistic supply". You can do everything "right", but according to your parent you are not good enough.
This is more common than one might imagine and for those of you who are "scratching your heads" for an explanation to this ultimate injustice, you might find some answers or guidance in the many available books on this topic.
If you were (are) the subject of a narcissist and find yourself shunned, it often is because your sibling(s) were far less independent than yourself, therefore better candidate(s) to provide your disturbed parent with absolute and total support regardless of the issue.
It's a stunning betrayal and abuse of basic human rights,both for the shunned and the one placed upon a pedestal both suffer the consequences throughout their lives.
There is nothing you can do to change this dynamic,but accept it for what it is and move forward and far away from TOXIC family.
Toxic Parents/Grandparents will disinherit you, often with no warning.
Toxic family will have us over a barrel even after weve grown up,they count on loyalty to some ideal of family no matter how badly they treated and still treat us,They count on our self-bullying and guilt.
They count on us still trying to jump through their hoops to win love and approval… They count on our fear that theyll manipulate the family & people into thinking we are ungrateful and treat them badly.
They count on our enduring verbal and emotional abuse so we can inherit our share of their fortune, disregarding agreements or your future if they decide to rip you off in the end. often they have already done it and as they are ordering you around they enjoy the knowledge there will be a big rude awakening for you and your future fiscal well being.
Toxic people who l blame everything on us and abusing us because it's your fault, you are selfish,ungrateful and dont deserve any better, It's your duty in their old age.Toxic people know our every weakness and sensitivity, and will poke them very hard when they want too,always find fault with every thing we do; compare us unfavorably to someone else who has treated them horribly and give your reward, the inheritance away to them and still demand knowing you will never be paid or be ok or travel or all the things she said she wants you to do after she has gone and still criticize, belittle and harass us and our spouse, they are the sneaky and criticize, demean and denigrate us in private but pretend they love us in public so everyone thinks they âre wonderful & loving.
We try everything we can think of, but the negativity, harassment, criticism, blame, shame, bullying and abuse never stop We do exactly what they want, but its never enough. We apologize and plead with them ,that just makes them nastier.Weve gotten fed up and threatened not to care for them, but they broke down in such distress we feel guilty or they act nice but,when we relax, they attack us more about something they didnt like.
So what can we do ?For the sake of peace and quiet in the whole family, we could keep trying to endure the abuse after all,if we only kept trying, if we did enough,it might change.
Also, they might leave us in the will as the care agreement states, itd be our fault if we quit too soon.Besides we are years into this and now fiscally reliant upon them keeping their word or face devastating consequences. too old and sick now to ever make it up.
We might object and argue enduring frustration and anger
this repeats endlessly and often spirals out of control.
Relentlessly toxic people wont admit they âre wrong and give up.
Eventually theyll escalate and cut us out of the will.
You don't think your Mom has Alzheimer's, rather dementia. There are over 70 causes if dementia, Alzheimer's being the most frequent.
In my Mom's case she was married to a high school boyfriend nearly eight years ago. He was her ONLY caregiver for the first five + years he was here. Love is blind. Until he had to go in for a hip replacement three years ago nobody else in the family had a clue how bad my Mom' memory/Alzheimer's had become. He did not tell anybody and thought Mom was just trying to be funny or cute. In the beginning that are very good at covering up the problems. What should have been the "writing on the wall" for my siblings and I should have been the repetitive middle of the night calls. But, it wasn't, we were all terribly stupid, or in denial of what should have been obvious. It became obvious with the hip followed by three months of rehab that Mom had a serious issue with her brain function; I came to stay with her while her hubby was in rehab. And that three months away also gave her hubby a new perspective, he had been in denial too, sometimes that still resurfaces. Is it possible that your Dad was blinded by his love for your Mom and that he felt that it was his responsibility to care for her. Was he a man that kept his problems to himself or did not like to involve others in what he thinks is too personal of a matter?
Well, Mom's hubby is and was all of that. My siblings and I had absolutely no idea what was going on with our Mom which aided my siblings to remain in their denial to this day. They know there is a problem, but even after an assessment by a geriatric care manager, sibs still do not understand how Alzheimer's has taken a grip on our Mom.
The paranoid delusions your mother is having is part of dementia and Alzheimer's. It will continue to become worse. When my Mom was first told by a doctor she had dementia, about 7 years ago now, she became so angry that she and her hubby stormed out of the doctor's office calling doc an assortment of names, never to see that doc again. I heard that story at a doc appt for Mom's hubby about 6 months ago. It could be that Mom had a similar discussion with her doctor with the same sort of reaction so Dad did not tell you about it. Have you or anybody else taken Mom to the doctor to discuss her memory and the accusations that she has made? I would recommend that you do it ASAP as some causes of dementia are reversible; like a urinary tract infection, mini strokes, for instance. Now is the time to make sure your Mom has Posers of Attorney in place while she can still have these prepared. AND get her to the doctor to talk about EVERYTHING going on with her.
From what you have shared, either Sis thinks she has a right to do what she is doing because she thinks or has convinced herself something you did was improper, OR she is just a totally horrible person and has stepped in to take every last asset she can get her hands on from you and Mom and is willing to keep mom a virtual (or an actual) prisoner in her home for the rest of her life or until the money runs out and/or she doesn't want her there anymore.
Being denied any access to your mom without cause is painful and unfair, but probably most important, is this question: Is Mom in danger, or is Sis, as much as you hate her, taking good care of her? I have always tended to encourage people to stand up to drug abusing or just abusive family members for the sake of the loved one and the reality that inappropriate gifting will incur penalties, and then the care costs and burdens all fall back on them. If Mom is endangered, if you have reason to believe this is all against her will, then police and/or adult protective services should be contacted as appropriate.
This kind of decision takes courage and discernment and rising above your feelings for your sister, as well as any anger towards your mom for letting this happen if she had any real say so in it. I hope and pray for you to have a great supply of both!
Your brother took over and is now finding money unaccounted for.And now wondering where it went.The bank statements will show who took the money regardless
Copy all the receipts and keep them in a secure place.
Vstefans, I don't think I will ever feel secure either. There are too many vermin in my family who can come out of the woodwork to make claims on things. I have one sister that deserted her children over 20 years ago and has not been heard from since. My mother and father raised the niece and nephew and they turned out horrid. We know that our sister is alive but she didn't turn up to my father's funeral. I AM sure that her children, the niece and nephew will be up front and center holding their hands out when it comes time to divvy things up. I'm going to hunt down my sister before I will ever do that. My niece robbed my mother blind, abused her and used her as a free babysitter for her three children all the while pocketing her welfare checks and not giving my mother anything for raising her oldest daughter. Slime, all around.
I paid with cash (my mistake) and the receipts are heat sensitive or faded with time, I wish I had thought of photocopying them...
the receipts of medicine from Walgreen's have to be subpoenaed...
A few weeks ago, I performed a "ceremony" of sorts...it is going on 3 years now, and since we appear to have closed out everything except a small trickle of mail from a couple "organizations" (I use the term loosely) that cannot figure out or manage to communicate to all their departments that Mom has passed on, I personally moved all the files and papers, stuffed into 3 big banker's boxes and a big bag (yes, even that all important burgundy padded vinly estate plan document folder that ruled my life for those caregiving years) - to the attic. There they will stay for a looong time, right next to our tax papers from more years gone by than the IRS should ever care about, as I believe in the "better to have it and not need it than need it thing and not have it"...I don't know that I will EVER feel secure enough to shred or burn them!
I ended up finding out that my parents had several liens on their house. They hadn’t paid their taxes in over a year and a half and had about 20 bill collectors looking for payments.
I ended up paying that money out of my own pocket so that my parents could stay in their home. I ended up over the past 6 years spending over $50,000 of my own money to buy them groceries, go there twice a month to ensure that my niece wasn’t taking advantage of them and to check on the home health care providers that we hired. I couldn’t even get my niece to go there once a week to fill the pill box so I had to go once a month to do it because no one else would.
I have 8 siblings. Only a couple of them visited once or twice a year and they pissed and moaned that they had to spend all this money to go out there, gas, etc. I had to stay at a hotel each time that I went out because my parents house was so mice infested, covered with cat hair, had mold in all the bathrooms and kitchen, cockroaches all over, that I would literally be sick the two weeks after visiting them. I had one week a month where I would be healthy and then have to return.
You know what my siblings say about all the money I spent on my parent’s needs for the past 6 years. They tell me I spent it because I WANTED to spend it. Who the f*&ck wants to spend their own money, run up credit card bills, and spend all that time traveling back and forth. I did it because my parents would have ended up out on the street, or with no heat one time, or with no food because my niece had spent all the money out of my mom’s checking account. I did it because it was the right thing to do.
I am so very thankful that my husband told me to save every fricken receipt for every expenditure. I don’t want any of my siblings to accuse me of stealing from my parents. I have proof of everything I spent, and you should too. If you spent it for your parent’s care, then you need to have a receipt to show what you spent the money on.
Periodically I would reimburse myself from my parents account to cover an expense that I had to pay out of my pocket. I’m sure my siblings are going to question all of that. Bring it on, I say. Because if they do, then I will certainly be claiming more of those expenses when the final distribution of assets occurs.
I get so tired of people accusing others of doing wrong when they have no idea what has gone on.
Document, document, document.
And, I will certainly have all of those documents when it comes time to file for her Medicaid in a few months.
That’s my rant for the day.
You say "Sad thing about it my Dad is going to do whatever my brother says for him to do. Can anyone please give me any advice on what I can do?" What's that about? What is your brother telling your father to do?
Maybe a third party mediator could sit down with you and your sibs and iron this out. The mediator needs to be someone who is neutral and agreed upon by all of you. It doesn't necessarily have to be someone you need to pay, although that might be necessary.
Even if your sister says it now, she can change her mind next week.
You are putting money into a house that you have no guarantee will be yours. Right now your mom has it that the two of you will split the house. Next week she may change her mind.
You need to hire and attorney or speak to an attorney about a new will that states that you will receive the house. Don't let it drag out any longer. If your mother ends up having memory issues then you won't be able to have the will changed. Just my two cents.
I got involved in my parents care and finances about 5 years ago when my father became ill. They had liens on their house, medical bills out of control, etc. My sister and I are DPOA. I've basically been taking care of all the details of their finances with my sister's approval, and signature, with the more major issues. I have kept all the emails between my siblings (I have 8 living) and have documented everything I have done. I do not want any of them to come back at me later on saying I stole money from my parents. BUT, I will say, I do know that one of them will cause a stink, It is a given.