Procedure for Setting Up VA Fiduciary Account for Mom's Benefits

"It Really Was Quite Easy and Painless. "

Hello All,

Today we finally had the meeting with the rep from the VA to set up the Fiduciary Account for mom's Aid and Attendance Benefits. As promised I will tell you all how it went and what I found out about the process. 

The meeting was very informal. We met at the Adult Family Home where mom is now living. The rep needed to meet with my sister who was to become the fiduciary and my mom, in order to assess her abilities to handle her own money. I went along to see how the process worked and just in case there where any questions about her application since I was the one who filed the initial forms.

The rep was very nice. She asked my mom the usual questions when checking for dementia; Do you know what year it is? Do you know who is president? Do you know where you are? Have you been in the hospital in the past year? Mom was able to answer some of the questions but with further conversation and my mom's own admittance, it was obvious that she needed help and could not manage her money on her own. 

The rep then gathered required information. She needed copies of my mother's financial  statements, bank accounts and any other sources of funds. She needed verification of my mother's current monthly income - social security and any other sources besides the VA benefits. A list of her current medical expenses was also needed - medicare supplement premiums, and lists of medications and cost of care at the Adult Family Home. Then she asked for two references from my sister who would testify to my sisters trustworthiness. She also asked for my sisters approximate yearly income.

After gathering all the information she went over the process for setting up the account. My sister will receive a letter of approval from the VA after they complete a background and credit check on her.  She then needs to take the letter along with a direct deposit form which the rep gave her to the bank and have them set up the account. The account will be in my mother's name with my sister's name listed as fiduciary. She said any bank can be used. Once the account is set up the back payment that is owed to my mother will be deposited into the account and her regular monthly payments will start going into that account.  

Here are a few rules about how the account is to be handled:

•  My sister will have to write checks from this account directly to the Adult Family Home, she cannot transfer the money into mom's other account and write one check, she will have to write two checks every month.
• There is never to be any commingling of funds with any of my sisters own money. The money is to be used only to pay for mom's  care ( already knew that ).
• My sister must keep records of all expenses in case they were to ever audit the account. Not hard since it's money in money out kind of situation.
• We are to notify the VA if mom moves or goes on medicaid anytime in the future. 

Other than that it was pretty straight forward. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes and she wanted to see my mother's room before she left. We were glad to get this piece of the puzzle in place so that from here on out things should be straight forward. 

By the way, if someone has ever filed for bankruptcy they cannot be a fiduciary for another under the VA rules. 

Hope this helps you if you are facing this procedure in the future. It really was quite easy and painless. We are very grateful to have these benefits for mom as they allow us to have her in a nice quiet place with some wonderful people looking after her. Without the VA we would have had to apply for medicaid and then the uncertainty of where she would end up would have been an issue. We will have to apply for medicaid in the future if she out lives what she has left but at least this buys us some time (about 4 years) to see what our options are without having to make a hasty decision we may regret. 

If you are in a situation like ours, I suggest that you take the time to research medicaid facilities, as I will be doing, over the course of the next several months. Find out what facilities take medicaid and if there is a waiting list. I find being proactive makes things easier and less stressful for all. 

Until Next Time
Take Care All,
Ruth Anne

Staying on Task When You Work From Home, How Do You Do it?

Hi All,

Hope today was a great day for you. Today I feel like I am in a rut. You know doing the same thing over and over again. Well that is how today was. Not sure why the feeling comes on as it does, but every now and then I just can't shake it.

As caregivers we do have a routine and so we repeat the same tasks day in and day out.  It's a must for us when caring for a loved one or a client. Now that mom is in an Adult Family Care Home I do not have the same schedule I had a few months ago, but I still try to keep a routine up. I have my little lady I visit and care for several times a week and I go and see mom on a regular basis, but I do work from home and that is a challenge for me. I would like to know how others deal with the challenge of working from home. Either as a caregiver or in another business. How do you stay on task?

I am trying to set goals for each day, and checking them off when completed. I also try and not let house work or other personal things interrupt my work, but that is one thing that is really hard for me. It's so easy to throw a load of laundry in the wash, then clean up the kitchen, you know house stuff. 

So how do you stay on track? I would love to hear your ideas for this challenge.

Until Next Time
Take Care
Ruth Anne 

Moving Mom Into An Adult Foster Care Home For the Aged

Hello Everyone,

After another fall and a return to rehab for several weeks my sister and I have finally taken the steps to move mom to and Adult Foster Care Home ( also called Homes for the Aged ) on a full time basis. This was one of the hardest,  heartwrenching decision we have ever had to make, but it was best for all.

AFC - a house like you or I would live in, only with some modifications inside to accommodate the residents.

My mom as you may know from my previous posts has lived with either myself or my sister since 2001 when dad passed away. She is now almost 92 and has started to develop dementia. My sister and I are not getting any younger and the increased care my mother required was making it very difficult. She could no longer be left alone even for a few hours to go shopping so we had to have someone with her around the clock and night time care literally meant no sleep for my sister, who has and needs to keep her daytime job as her husband was laid off after 27 years, leaving them with one income.

We therefore decided it was time. Time to make things better for all involved, especially mom. We searched and searched and finally found a wonderful Adult Foster Care Home only 10 minutes from both of us.

Wills, Advanced Medical Directive & Power of Attorney

Do you have all of your proper paperwork completed and ready?

Today I watched a new series on PBS titled "Your Turn to Care". It is a four part series on caring for our aging parents which touches on some of the things we as caregivers face.

One segment touched on the need to have all the proper paperwork completed in advance of any issues arising so that we are, as the one gentlemen put it, " proactive instead of reactive". If we are properly prepared for what we know will in time come up, we can be much more relaxed and confident that we can handle any situation to come up. There are three very important pieces of information that ALL adults should have completed, not just the elderly. They are:

1. A Will
2. Advanced Medical Directive / Advance Health Care Directive
3. Power of Attorney

Today I will talk about the Will. Many people have the mistaken view

Caring for Mom and Dad

Dear Friends,

Did you see the recent PBS show entitled: Caring For Mom & Dad ?

 

Until now my blog posts have been about being a professional caregiver. However today I want to switch gears a bit and talk about being a PAL caregiver for a family member. You see I have done both. If you have read my posts you know  I have worked for other families caring for their loved ones, however I have never posted about caring for a family member as I have done for many many years. I can tell you from experience that they are in so many ways very different

My father passed away in 2001 suddenly, leaving my mother, who has severe macular degeneration, to live alone. My siblings and I did not feel that it was safe for her to live alone as she was about 45 minutes away from both my sister and I  and could not drive or care for other needs on her own. She was 77 at the time. Without hesitation we decided to have mom move in with us and she lived with my husband and I for 9 1/2 years. She has now been living with my sister for the last 4 1/2 years and is now 91.

The stress of having someone else in your household is heavy. The decisions you have to make for a family member such as a mom or dad are complicated and not always easy.