Legal Question in Elder Law in Massachusetts
My mother has had a two strokes and now is disabled.
She had her first one and I moved into her house and started taking care of her financial and health issues. I have what I believe is a Durable Power of
Attorney.
I previously had the bathroom in her home renovated and took my Mom out of the Nursing Home and brought her back into the house. I was going to
have a home health aide and a nurse come over daily. Well, my Mom had two wonderful days at her house and she suffered from another stroke. She
spent a week in the hospital and then the Home Health agency told me that I probably would not be able to manage her, because she was now
resistant to being handled and cleaned up.
I have consolidated all of her bank accounts into two accounts, and she has enough money to private pay at the nursing home for about a year. Plenty
of time for me to get something going.
My problem is, I now have to get all of her funds into an annuity and I cannot spend anything on the house. If the temperature dips below freezing, the
pipes in the house will probably freeze. I have her lifetime belongings and mine as well in the house and I cannot seem to kand a job.
I have been studying Real Estate Investing for about two years and have become knowledeable about how to buy, sell and flip for a profit using mostly
other peoples money. I am desperate not too lose all of our belongings and house.
My Question: If I deposit all of her money except about $4,000.00 and I create and record a Promissory Note to the estate for the $4,000.00 payable to
my Mom's estate before she runs out of money, will this be illegal? She is not able to sign the Note at this time, so I would have to sign my name and
put in P.O.A. and then write her name in.
I thought of creating a Promissory Note by myself and trying to sell it but my credit is a little weak. I figure, I would pay the Note off, within the first
six to nine months and make additional deposits to her account to help her
I am not out to steal her money at all, I just want to save the house and contents, and provide myself with a career that I will love to do. If I start
making good money, I intentions would be to bring her back into her own home again, where she will be cared for here with me. I am figuring the
Prommisory Note will show my intentions are good and not sinister. I love my Mother very, very much. I know that she would do this for me if she
could communicate with me. Her speech is tough now and I cannot understand what she is saying. I see her every day.
This is the ONLY idea, I can think of to save her home from becoming a Vacant Property and all her contents and mine from getting stolen or given
away for a song.
Please help! The business would be a small LLC. I would buy low using an Agent as my partner. I would then seek to get the right to buy. I would
probably be getting the Earnest Money from the third party buyer, especially after the first transaction. I would be using a Transactional Funder to
provide the cash to me. There would be two back to back closings. I have researched my competition and they are doing these with no problems.
Any assistance would be GREATLY appreciated here. Am I committing Fraud if I do this?
1 Answer from Attorneys
The plan you've proposed could easily cause your mother to lose eligibility for MassHealth long-term care benefits. MassHealth has strict rules about promissory notes, one of which being that your power of attorney explicitly authorizes you to create one. Further, your plan could easily expose you to accusations of breach of fiduciary duty and self-dealing, because the use of your mother's funds as you propose would not benefit your mother if your plan does not work.
There are ways of creating a promissory note that would meet MassHealth requirements; however, it must be VERY carefully drafted; and depending on the language of the power of attorney, the terms may require court approval. If you used your own money to renovate her bathroom, it may be possible to reimburse yourself without risking disqualification for public benefits; however, more information would be needed to know for sure.
I strongly suggest that you meet with an experienced elder law attorney to discuss appropriate planning to manage the cost of long-term care, review the terms of the power of attorney and discuss the numerous legal and ethical issues you have raised.