Guide in Handling Your Old Parents’ Finances

Several caregiver services in Chicago are committed in providing the best and high-quality home care services to their patients. In-home providers are here to offer a wide range of services that cater to different needs, such as home assistance for adults with disability, adults or elderly who suffer from accident or illness, and elders who develops dementia.

On the other hand, finances of elderly should be taken care of their daughter or son. As children of your old parents, you should be able to handle their finances, especially when something suddenly happens to them, which will need your assistance to take over to their financial life. Even if you are not an accountant, you can still handle your parents’ finances properly by following the simple guide below.

Find and Organize the Financial Accounts and Documents

Finding all the financial accounts and documents is the first step you need to do in handling your parents’ finances. If your parents are still well, you can ask them to create a file that has the details of their financial documents. It is much better if they give an access to it. Make sure to organize these files so when an emergency happens, you can easily find essential information.

Locate the Power of Attorney or Living Trust Documents

Power of attorney refers to the written document that states authorization to represent on others behalf in private affairs, such as business and legal matters. In case your parents named you as their representative in their power of attorney, you are good to go. You will need to present such document that indicates your eligibility to handle your parents’ finances to every financial institution, such as bank you will be dealing with.

Quick Tip: Before your parents become ill, ask them to prepare three essential documents that will help you handle their finances in case sudden misfortune happens. Here are they:

• Power of Attorney Document – This document will give you the permission to take your parents’ finances in case something happens to them
• Health Care Proxy – This document will enable you to make life-and-death decisions
• Will – This document will determine the assets of your parents that will be divided in case they are gone.

Collect and Start Paying the Bills

You can volunteer to pay their bills so that it can be easily be tracked, especially if they are already developing some illness.  If you do not still have access to the accounts of your parents, you can pay it first yourself and have it reimbursed later.

Seek the Help of a Professional

Consider getting the help of a professional, such as financial planner or attorney. These professionals can properly guide you in handling your parents’ finances and help you avoid financial mistakes. They can also provide advice on how you can budget the money of your parents. Moreover, hiring a financial planner or attorney would be helpful especially if your parents are already develops dementia.

Handling finances, may it be yours or your parents’, is not difficult as it seems. With a proper knowledge and preparation, you can easily manage your parents’ finances and your own finances as well.