I am 85 and my wife is 80. Both in reasonably good health. I am thinking of adding my daughter's name to all our financial documents, such as checking accounts, savings, CDs, condo etc. Good or bad idea? My intention is to make things easier for her. I trust her implicitly. Thank you.
What if daughter isn't able, do you have a successor in mind?
certainly see an elder attorney . Putting your daughters name on the condo will probably be seen as gifting in the eyes of Medicaid. If your trying to protect assets , definitely see an attorney.
I would set it up with them able to sign with the financial POA. Your bank can guide you. You may want to have tha accounts setup with POD status .. payable on death..
Truthfully, I am able to do all my mothers banking on line, pay her bills online I have all passwords, All information that may be required to pass identification. if I have questions that requires talking to someone , I never tell them who I am, but tell them I am my mother.. I know some may bristle at this, but otherwise no one will talk to me. I have durable POA , medical POA , she is deemed incompasitated. .
Whatever you do, do NOT place your daughters' names on your home deed. Let them inherit the condo instead. Otherwise it becomes a Capital Gain tax nightmare when they sell the condo. The attorney can explain why.
The Attorney will suggest that besides your wife being your Power of Attorney, that one or more of your daughters become a back-up Power of Attorney, in case your wife is no longer comfortable taking on that job.
My parents were in their 90's and had each other as POA with no back-ups. When I took my Dad to the ER, I told him that I can't make any decisions for him, as I am not POA, and that Mom should have came with us. Mom didn't come because she no longer could hear clearly and she was now legally blind. Dad quickly had me set up an appointment with my Elder Law Attorney.
You can have one of your daughters be your financial Power of Attorney, someone who is good at handing money. The bank will set it up where when the time comes that you and your wife no longer want the chore of paying bills, that the daughter can take over by signing her name to your checks [new checks with her name as "or" between your name and hers]. It worked great for my Dad and I, all his bills were now being forwarded to my house, and I used his checking account to pay his bills.
If you put family on it should be as a POA, and you should be making out POA with the lawyer and the person chosen should understand fully how to keep meticulous records of the money and and out of account, of files, of bill paying and etc..
As my brother's lawyer said to him "You better trust this Sister because she can now sell the gold in your teeth". But yes, if you trust someone enough this is something you can do now, or make documents out for DPOA that will take place when doctors feel you are no longer competent to manage on your own.
SEE AN ATTORNEY. You are well past the time for doing all this, so go with your daughter this week if you are able. Then go to the banks and have her added as DPOA per your stipulations and register your papers with your bank, introduce your daughter.
https://www.agingcare.com/articles/joint-bank-accounts-affect-medicaid-168094.htm
Many years ago, my mother added my name to her bank accounts as you described. She was the primary account owner and her intent was that I would have access - as in signature to write checks if needed. I lived local and my mother and I used the same bank for many years - they personally knew us.
Fast forward to the present, when our mother outlived her savings and we needed to apply for Medicaid. I was able to provide all bank statements for the previous 5 years CLEARLY showing that our mother ONLY used her accounts as the owner. Money was NEVER mixed between myself and my mother's income. I never accessed her accounts UNTIL she went into AL and then was moved to a NH. Then I was needed to write payment checks as she was private pay until she ran out of her money. I had to CLEARLY prove this information to Medicaid with all the detailed documents.
In hindsight, this may not have been the best way to handle this situation - but it was an action we took over 15 years ago. These were not setup as JOINT accounts that would require both signatures to access accounts - I was an invisible name in the background on my mother's accounts. But my name was on her accounts this information had to be clearly presented to Medicaid.
Just a note - I've read some posters mention problems with POA at banks. Fortunately, I did not have that problem at our bank. I do know that Social Security and Federal Pension Plans do not recognize POA. So that presented a different set of problems requiring a medical document from the NH attending physician. Many phone calls involved and stress.
We learned many things the HARD way so I would recommend consulting with an experienced elder attorney for proper guidance. It might very well avoid all the stress and confusion my sister and I suffered from past actions taken.
The house is another thing. It causes problems with Meducaid when people other than a married couple own a home together. If you wanted to protect your home from Medicaid it should have been done years ago. You could have put it into daughter's name with you being able to live in it till ur passing or placed in Care.
Medicaid considers a home an exempt asset. Lets say there is a Community Spouse, they can remain in the home. When the person in the NH passes, Medicaid will try to recover the monies they put out by placing a lien on the home which will need to be satisfied when the Community Spouse passes, sells or leaves the house. I don't see where placing your daughter on a deed with you will help either u or her. May cause problems in the future for her if Medicaid is ever needed. If you think you won't need Medicaid in 5 years, turn the house over to your daughter with the stipulation u both can remain in the house till ur passing. If you do it this way, u may still be responsible for taxes and upkeep.
Do you not have your daughter as beneficiary to any CDs? This may be a good question to ask. Can you even place you daughter as co-owner of a CD and if so, how does that effect future if Medicaided needed. Even if daughter is on the CD, Medicaid may consider the CD your money.
You need someone well versed in Medicaid law at this point. To be honest, this should have all been worked out years ago. Our girls are beneficiaries of all our money. The money was saved for us to use if need for our old age. My girls only receive it if we never have to use it.