The elderly are among the most vulnerable members of society. There are a lot of people who are unscrupulous and willing to take advantage of the elderly and people who can't protect themselves. If you have a loved one who falls into that demographic, you want to be able to do everything that you can to make sure that they are protected and that they get the help that they may need. There are several things that you can do to help protect your loved one. One of them is to visit a lawyer who deals in elder law. They can help you set up a lot of different kinds of protections for your loved one.
1. Power of Attorney
One thing the lawyer can help you set up to help protect your loved one is to set up a power of attorney. The power of attorney will give you, or whoever your loved one names, to make certain choices for your loved one. That can include things like where money is going and who gets to use or sell property. Just because you have one written up doesn't mean that you have to automatically use it.
The power of attorney may be set to trigger when certain things happen. The power of attorney can also be set so that there are two people who need to make any decision. It may slow down decisions that need to be made quickly, but it can make sure that no one person is making any decisions which can be detrimental to your loved one. It's a checks and balances process.
2. Dual Signature Bank Account
Another thing that the elder law attorney can help you set up is dual signature bank accounts. With this kind of account, your loved one will need to have someone to countersign all their expenditures. This will make sure that no one is able to scam money out of them. It also makes sure that someone else knows what's going on with your loved one's financial status. The co-signer will know when things are getting paid for and when they aren't and can head off any problems before things get too bad.
If you are worried about your elderly loved one, you want to do everything you can to make sure that they are as protected as possible. There are a lot of ways that you can do that.
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