Ah, Conservatorship! I fought very hard to take control of my mom's finances. It couldn't be that hard, right? And I would sleep easier at night knowing her phone, electricity, gas etc weren't cut off during the worst weather possible.
Well, it isn't as glamorous as it sounds. Although I know you all envy me. I have a report due in a few weeks of the inventory of all her assets. First the court forgot to assign me a commissioner of accounts. I wandered blindly for two and a half months before the mistake was discovered. Then I find out I have to pay several hundred dollars for a lawyer to audit me. Fun, fun. When mom still owes me thousands for paying medical, legal, insurance, grocery bills she couldn't afford this is just icing on the cake. Yippee! Thankfully the clerk reminded me if the order appointing me as conservator doesn't require certain things to be done I don't have to do it. So I can make up numbers for just about everything. Except they require me to have the house appraised. I'm having her jewelry looked at to see if anything is worth appraising there. That's if I find two minutes to even get that all set up.
Since I sued for Guardianship and Conservatorship without a lawyer (since my money tree burned down) I feel like I've been flying blind. In the next month the inventory is due and in December my initial 4 month financial report is due. When I asked the lawyer for guidance on a few things his response was "if you have concerns you should contact a lawyer." Aw, thanks! You're such a big help!
Things are better financially for my mother. She has Medicare Parts A, B and D. Yippee!!! For the next year she has alimony and social security. The alimony ends in a year. My plan is to have her house sold by then or we'll have some big problems. But now is the time to get the extras done. I took her to a dentist last week and she needs major dental work. She's never taken care of her teeth. She began to lose them in her 40s. Half of the teeth she has are implants.
My younger sister and I had to make some tough decisions on what to do with her teeth. One tooth can be saved, but will require about $2000+ worth of work. There are 3 other cavities which will cost a few hundred and one tooth that is beyond saving and will have to be pulled by an oral surgeon. We can space it out and the regular dentist's office (the initial work must be done by an endodontist) has said they will work with me on the bill as best they can. He will do the crown and cavity fills once we get to that point. The dentist was concerned that if they started work on the expensive tooth she may become non compliant and refuse to let them finish the work (it will take about 3 visits or so to complete). That would end up making the work done pointless and then we'll have to have it pulled instead. In the end my sister and I decided to go for it. Might as well save the tooth if possible and it's between two implants so really there was no option left other than pulling it and leaving a gap. She has been complaining for months about that tooth and seems highly motivated to get that one fixed. And the Aricept seems to be helping her understand what she needs to do.
I have one piece of advice for all of you reading. Brush your teeth ladies and gentlemen.
Today I had to pay $350 for the house to be appraised. I can't help but think, do these people who make these rules about conservatorship understand that every penny I spend on appraisals, report fees and audits take away from the money to pay for her medical care? She isn't a millionaire. The money will run out sooner or later. I know I have to be watched or I could just run away with everything, but it just saddens me to spend money on things that don't directly help her.
So I'm a bit frazzled. And with all that I have the Guardianship duties I share with my younger sister. That requires a short report due sometime between October and December we think (they give us such awesome concise instructions, ya know!).
And all my volunteer jobs are still ongoing. I love them all. If I didn't have something to distract me from all of the stuff from my mom I think I would seriously go crazy. I'd have to turn to alcohol! Or knitting, gah!
If I know you in real life please give me some patience. I definitely won't be at my best, but I assure you I won't be at my worst. And you can always sneak me a shot just in case.
(((HUGS))) Thinking of you!
ReplyDelete