Legal Question in Family Law in Arkansas

Re: Care of an elderly relative

You would not be personally responsible for her debts. You should call the home she is in and see if there are aware if her son has legal custody (guardianship) over her. If not, you may want to take legal custody of her in order move her to a home near you. If he does have a guardianship over her you would need to get an AR attorney to petition to subistute you as her guardian. However, either way you are going to need to try and find her son to give him notice or perhaps get his consent. Again, the nursing home may have that information. If her mind is still good and she does not need or have a guardian then you can help her move if she wants to move to your area. Don't forget to consider the Medicaid situation to pay for the nursing home in your state. Good Luck.

Re: Care of an elderly relative

You may want to consider filing for guardianship of your aunt. You would need to know if her son has guardianship, and who is paying her bills now. They may be paid by Medicare or her health insurance.

You won't be personally responsible for the debts that her son ran up. She may not either, if he didn't have guardianship, or her permission at the time the debts were incurred.

I would call the nursing home and see her status. Is she under anyone's guardianship? Can she make decisions, such as moving to a nursing home near you, on her own, or does she need a guardian to make that decision? You may need to find a way to find her son to inform him of what's going on. If he is her guardian now, he has to have Notice if you try to file for guardianship.

If this ends up with you needing a guardianship, you are going to have to apply for one in an AR court. Since it doesn't sound like you could travel here for that, we would have to petition the court as to whether they would allow you not to be here.