Another reason to watch the PWD's finances: the IRS

Victoriaredux

It is hard, messy and sometimes relationship impacting to step in to take control of your loved ones finances -using DPOA or guardianship.

People say things like " want them to be independent as long as possible " etc.

Heard a caller on a radio show -grandmother with dementia lost 500k to a phone scammer who said her investment funds were being used by some group and the police/FBI wanted to catch the bad guys but first she needed to move her money out of the investment house. It ended up gone into untraceable accounts, cash cards etc .

She lived with her adult children but they didn't monitor her calls or manage her funds and she was able to get wiped out. She had the money pot in the family and now her support falls on them.

AND now the IRS wants abt 80k of capital gains taxes for the sale of the investments. The family will have to hire a tax attorney to try to get that amount reduced [meaning the tax payers lose out too].

Dementia and finances are a combo where you really have to protect against the worst that can happen. Because if you are hoping for the best - you are relying on a person who is losing their memory and judgement. No do overs.

When a child under majority inherits money it isn't usually available until they are age 18, 21, 30 - depending on what the late family member thought . They need to be capable of managing the funds.

So why do we think an adult who has a decaying ,not maturing, brain can keep handling their money? It can go in a keystroke.

Iris L.

This is a great post.

SusanB-dil

Yup! 6-figures before I caught what the evil niece was up to!

Thank you for posting a good warning and reminder

We turned off the ringer on the phone, as we noticed MIL was starting to speak to scammers more. We told her not to talk to these people. We got: "my house my phone, will talk if I want." Nope. Not. We're done with that.

edit add: please watch out for your LO and their finances, I wish I had checked sooner, even around a formerly trusted, former family member.

Carl46

That's right, you need to get control of the money. Even legitimate charities will take their last dime, because they will keep asking for more and the burden is on the donors to know what they can afford to give.