Hello...my mother is 79 and father now 83. they have a equity line of credit on their home totaling 47000. (the house is now worth only about 60k). If my father were to pass away what benefits can my mother receive? My father is a retired steelworker (35 years of svc), he receives $1000. from SSI and roughly 500. from his pension check. My concern is whether or not my mother will still receive this income/pension if he were to pass. I'm afraid she could lose her home as she cannot pay for loan on just her SSI check. Please advise. Thank you in advance for your anticipated response.

Regards,

Carmen Cuevas

P.S. I looked online for Survivor Benefits and was all over the place! I just need a straight answer for peace of mind. Thanks again.

If the husband of an incompetent alzheimer's patient dies, iss the patient then the sole owner of their jointly owned house

My brother convinced my mother to sell him the family farm, all the buildings,vehicles and equipment for an amount far below the fair market value. In '87 Daddy valued the farm at over $600,000 and my brother bought all of it, including house contents for $147,000. Neither Mom or my brother had legal representation. My brother simply had a real estate agent meet them at the courthouse to get papers signed.

Within 3 months Mom "refunded" $30,000 because the farm was "just dirt". He also convinced her to put $20,000 of the proceeds into CD's in case of an emergency, but the CD's were joint with him. He cashed in half of them.

Then when Mom went to put $20,000 in annuities for both me and my sister, he convinced her that the bank had made a $20,000 error and deposited his deposit in her account instead of his and she wrote him a check for $20,000. There was no such error according to the bank.

Additionally, the $40,000 in annuities for my sister and me was actually put into one of Mom's annuities. Initially, the monies that are in the annuities were in mutual funds in Daddy's Trust. After Daddy died, my brother convinced Mom to move the money to annuities with him as sole beneficiary. He also had her designate him as sole beneficiary of her life insurance policy.

Now while I was sick and in the hospital for two months, he convinced Mom to cash in the last CD, set up a new joint bank account with Mom and him (the existing one is in the name of the Trust). He got her to have her social security check and monthly annuity payment transferred to the new bank account. He won't give her checks on the new account and says that when the Trust account is depleted then she will get the checks. He has all the statements and checks sent to him post office box, not to Mom.

What in the world can my sister and I do to get Mom's affairs back on track? The only thing I've managed to do is get her to redesignate all three children as beneficiaries of the annuities.

Mom is 82, has had a stroke a year ago, and I'm currently living with her to care for her since she should not be left alone.

My dad is 90 years old, living in California. He has no relatives out there and the only person that can do anything for him is his housekeeper who has been employed for about 30 years. I am 28 and living in Kentucky. He just had a fall and is now in the hospital, unable to move his legs and several other issues. He had one of these several years ago and it took months of rehabilitation in a nursing home to regain use of his legs, which he miraculously did. Currently there is no will or POA or anything. I am thinking he is going to have to go into an assisted care facility and I would love for him to come here in KY. I have been looking into them and found some he could afford with his monthly income. Would it be beneficial for me to get POA and how would I go about doing this with me living in KY and him in a hospital in CA? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. As of now he is mentally capable and we had been talking about him moving here but he never made a decision. Is it possible to make him move here? I don't care about his money, I just want him to get care and I don't know what to do...

Thanks.

My father is in the early stages of dementia. He is still perfectly capable of living on his own but has memory difficulties. My brother, unfortunately, has suffered some mental problems in the past few years and become a raging alcoholic. He has taken "borrowed" over $30,000 from my father in the last 6 months. We tell Dad about the alcohol problems and he agrees. But when my brother comes for a handout, either Dad has forgotten or my brother convinces him that we're all wrong.

Is there anything we can do to stop my brother? Is there any way to protect my father short of having him declared incompetent?

My father is 83 years old and suffers from Alzheimers. He is not completely incompetent mentally, but does have difficulty understanding and remembering things. The problem is that my brothers ex-girlfriend has been manipulating my father for years. She has been caught stealing from my father's home on two occasions. She uses my fathers inablity to understand and remember things to manipulate him into feeling sorry for her. She is a drug addict and lives on the streets, but keeps coming to my father to get money from him. She also asks him for rides all the time, knowing that he no longer is able to drive safely. Our family has tried for several years to get my father to see that this girl is a lying, manipulating thief, but he will not listen. Is it possible for me to get a restraining order to keep her away? Is there any legal avenue i can pursue to stop her from taking advantage of my father or do i have to wait until my father is completely incompetent and then have a court declare him as such?

Thank you!