Legal Question in Elder Law in Wisconsin

When the nursing home says that you are responsible for the care of your father, they may be referring to "you" in your official capacity as attorney in fact under the POA rather than you as a person. However, depending upon what sort of documents you have signed for the nursing home, it may be possible that you obligated yourself personally under some contract contained in the fine print. To avoid this, you need to read everything carefully and make sure that you sign every document with the disclaimer that you are signing "as attorney in fact and not personally." As they have probably told you, you will eventually need to apply for public aid under title XIX (Medicaid). Read the application for Medicaid carefully and get legal advice on it before returning it. If you have received gifts from your father within the last seven years, you might have made yourself responsible for his care up to the amount of those gifts and it is possible that the government may seek reimbursement from you personally. I would recommend that you consult with an experienced estate planning attorney as soon as possible. Proper estate planning and use of available funds to purchase a long term care insurance policy rather than direct paying the nursing home with them. Long term care insurance is only available for those under age 79 and potentially too expensive for older persons, but still worth a look if that are significant savings available. You could probably have avoided these problems with a little advanced planning of this nature. My answer here does not make me your lawyer, so you need to consult one of your own before acting upon this. For further discussions, you may contact my office at 333 Main St, Racine, WI 53403, 262-633-3090, during business hours, or see me on the web at www.jayknixonlaw.com. See over 15 years of my previous answers to consumer questions at http://www.lawguru.com/answers/atty_profile/view_attorney_profile/jknixon. Attorney answers may contain advertising materials.