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My father is in assisted living and my mother at home with early onset cognitive dementia. My brother is trying to get hold of their savings. I have reported to fraud at bank. Bank is going to release the funds to my mother's address because bank wants no part of dispute. My brother will have my mom sign it over to him and he will bank it. In order for him to cash the check, does he need my signature also? Or just my parents? I need one more Dr. letter to remove my parents, but I am out of state and very hard to do.

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Suitcase, some folks mistakenly believe that if they move an elderly parents money into their name that Medicaid will pay more quickly and they can "save the money for the estate". The difficulty is that Medicaid looks back 5 YEARS from the date of application and if there are money transfers like this, it will trigger a Medicaid penalty and no payments will be made for nursing home care. You can ask brother if he has consulted a Medicaid attorney to get legal advice and tell him that you are very concerned that his actions will leave him unable to get help for your mother when BROTHER needs to get her long term care help and she is unable to access Medicaid due to financial changes. Sometimes we have to engage a person's self interest to help our parents...
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Countrymouse you are correct. He says he's holding it for her. I'm calling Independent Medical Exams to see if I can arrange an in home visit from a dr. He can evaluate her and hopefully write the letter I need. My brother will not speak to me at all, nor will his kids. THey are mad we moved out of state, due to employment reasons. Saddest part is my family is torn apart and will never be whole again. All for money.
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First thing you need to do is to get a doctor's letter stating that your mother has dementia and that her judgement is flawed. The bank says that it's a touchy situation for them, that unless the person has been declared incompetent to handle their affairs, if that elderly person shows up with the child, then they would have to release funds. I don't know how he would be able to do this without your mother being physically present at the bank. Would contact lawyer right away.
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I think the problem might be the "early onset." Your mother is not (yet) acknowledged to be incompetent, she's perfectly happy to let your brother have this money - maybe he's told her it's for 'safekeeping' or something - and she is still in charge of the account?

I realise this is going to sound like a simplistic question, but what is the reason you can't ask your brother what the heck he thinks he's doing?
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suitcaseheart, POA agents and trustees of trusts can either be immediately effective after the documents are signed or they can be effective only after a certain condition is met, e.g. when a doctor determines incompetence. Without knowing your specific POA and trust situation, it's impossible to give specific advice. What you can do immediately, though, is call the Adult Protective Services or Senior Services Hotline in the state where your parents live to tell them what is going and ask them to immediately investigate the situation before your brother can do any damage.
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I don't understand. if you are the trustee of an account. how could your brother get into the account? I have hard enough time doing that myself (I am trustee, as the bank always scrutinizes who I am. some bank employees know me, so its not an issue. banks usually question who you are.
all my parents bank accts were in trust. and lists me as trustee.
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Suitcase, who put together the Trust for your parents? I would contact that Attorney and ask him/her for suggestions on what to do. If you don't have a name of the Attorney, then seek out an "Elder Law Attorney", as such attorneys are more current regarding elder laws in their State.
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