~~WEEKLY NEWSLETTER – TAX DAY
Weekly Newsletter: April 15, 2014 got here too soon for a lot of us. We were still digging out from under the snow in most places across the nation and just like every year April 15th is here and many of us are scrambling to get our papers in order to file our taxes.
Automated resources will help most of us meet the deadline of 12:00 midnight. Your envelope at least must bear the date stamp of April 15, 2014, to indicate you have filed your taxes on time and will not be penalized for a late filing.
This year is a particularly tumultuous year for a young woman who normally helps her Mom file her taxes. Her mother is now 89 and one would wonder why she is still filing a tax given she is living off of a very limited income. The real problem is that the mom has dementia and is in a facility. She is no longer able to live at home. Siblings are fighting over her financial resources and who actually has power-of-attorney over the Mom.
One sister has contacted the authorities in an attempt to bring about fraud charges against the sister who is the caretaker. She is accusing her sister of misusing the mother’s money, including benefits she receives from the Veteran’s Administration (VA) because of her husband’s service in the military. Now the other sister is responding to her sister’s charges and has secured an attorney to ban her sister from visiting the mother or gaining access to any information about the Mom.
The brother has decided to stay out of the situation and hibernate in New York far away from the madness his sisters are encountering in Florida. In the meantime, no one is visiting Mom; bills need to be paid because Mom has not gotten approved for Medicaid. Daughter #1 initially filed for Medicaid benefits for her mother. Later Daughter #1 had conflict with the facility administrator who contacted Daughter #2 who subsequently filed another Medicaid application. By now I know you are looking for the aspirin bottle to try and cure a monumental headache.
This convoluted situation in this family is not an anomaly, but one that many family members find themselves in because of a lack of planning before the tsunami hits. It is clear that the mother and father had not put plans in place for both of them before his death. The mother did not put plans in place after her husband’s death. The children did not fast forward to the day that their Mom would need elder care services and would not be able to make decisions for herself. Unfortunately, her children are not in a position to make meaningful decisions for their Mom. Their better judgment is being evaporated by infighting.
To avoid such conflict not to mention the cost of paying attorneys and the aggravation, it is far better to plan for the inevitability of growing old while we are in possession of our physical and mental faculties. Outlining how your business should be handled from nursing home care to burial arrangements is part of the business of the end of our lives and we should address it as a high priority when we are healthy enough to do it. This concludes our weekly newsletter.
P.S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Dianna Tafazoli
