Legal Question in Elder Law in California

conservertorship for a person whom I already have durable power of attorney

My mother has Alzheimer's disease and is in a room and board. We have had durable power of attorney for 5 years. Recently, We discovered that she had 2 IRA accounts and she is currently on Medi-Cal. Medi-cal informed us that we had to turn over the monies, $10,000, to the state or she would be taken off of Medi-Cal. The instituion where her funds are stated that we must have conservatorship in order to access the funds; Medi-Cal has given us two weeks to turn over the funds and we do not know how to go about getting conservatorship quickly and, if possible, cheaply as we do not have a lot of money. Please advise. sincerly BR


Asked on 11/14/02, 8:20 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Chris Johnson Christopher B. Johnson, Attorney at Law

Re: conservertorship for a person whom I already have durable power of attorney

First, check again with Medi-Cal to see if the funds have to be turned over. Retirement accounts can often just be annuitized instead.

Second, the power of attorney, unless limited to a scope that doesn't include retirement accounts, should work, but people often have difficulty getting them accepted at first. Perhaps an attorney letter pointing out the relevant code sections would work. Otherwise, a conservatorship would be quite expensive.

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Answered on 11/14/02, 8:54 pm


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