Legal Question in Mediation in New York

Rights of Children to See Parent Who is Bedridden

My eldest sister and I have been denied access to our mother for the past several years. She is bedridden and is being cared for by another sister in New York State. We were not notified that our mother had been moved out of her house to live with the sister and her husband in another town. We were able to obtain what we believe to be the address, however, all mail has been returned because there is no mail receptacle. Calls to a cell phone number remain unanswered, and letters to our mother's house (which we believe is being rented) are also unanswered. Our mother is elderly and we have no idea about her current condition. Furthermore, we're can't be certain we would be notified if she died. Do my sister and I have any legal rights against our sister to be able to see and talk with our mother? Can we get some kind of cour order? Thank you.


Asked on 1/12/06, 7:02 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mark S. Moroknek Kelly & Curtis, PLLC.

Re: Rights of Children to See Parent Who is Bedridden

Yes there is a procedure that you could use to

petition a court for an evaluation of your mother's

living arrangments. In the process, you could request the opportunity to see her etc.

Generally, when someone is not able to care for themself, a power of attorney is not sufficient to obtain all the necessary access to Social Services, Medicare and the like.

I am sure your sister would want to receive whatever government benefits are available to take care of your mother, or if she is institutionalized, the hospital may have

already filed such a petition.

If you have the address then you should be able to determine the judicial district in which she is residing from the NY State Court web site:

http://www.courts.state.ny.us/home.htm.

You need to contact a lawyer who practices elder law or estate law in that area and explain the situation in detail. Hopefully you hsve your mother's social security number?

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Answered on 1/12/06, 7:32 am


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