Best Friends of 78 Years Move into the Same Care Home, "I missed her."

Olive Woodward and Kathleen Saville, both 89, met when they were 11 and bonded instantly over their similar sense of humor.

Now, the friends of more than 78 years are making mischief in a care home.

“We don’t cause any trouble … but we sometimes have to knock the staff into shape,” Saville told British news agency SWNS. “I just raced one of the managers down the hallway for a laugh.”

Saville has resided at Berry Hill Park in Mansfield, England, since 2018, while Woodward moved into the facility last month. The lifelong pals, who are both widows, have rooms on the same floor, which means they are rarely apart.

“When Kathleen moved into the home, I missed her and I used to go and see her every Saturday for lunch,” Woodward explained. “Then I thought, ‘Why don’t I move in too?’ If I’m unhappy or in trouble, I only have to go to Kathleen and we’ll always end up laughing.”

Saville noted that she and her partner in crime enjoy getting dolled up together.

“I’m so glad Olive is here now, we’re like giggling school girls and we still put on our lippy and get dressed up,” Saville gushed. “We always say to each other, ‘If you’ve got it, flaunt it.”

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Best Friends of 78 Years Move into the Same Care Home, "I missed her."

Caught on camera: Sanitation worker puts trash bins away each week for elderly woman after witnessing her fall

The sweet gesture was caught on camera nearly a year after Billy Shelby began lending a helping hand.

In the hustle and bustle of our fast-paced world, little moments of good can often be overlooked. But thanks to modern technology, the kindness of one sanitation worker is not going unnoticed.

Missouri native, Colette Kingston, posted a video taken by her elderly mother’s Ring doorbell surveillance.

The video captured Billy Shelby, a Missouri sanitation worker, arm in arm with 88-year-old Opal Zucca helping wheel in her trash bin.

“God bless you as always, darling!” Shelby said to Zucca, after placing the bin in its place. “You’re looking good. That hair! You got it down!”

This isn’t Shelby’s first-time helping wheel in her trash bin. Obviously the two are quite friendly. That’s because Shelby has been helping Zucca with her trash bins since the start of 2019.

In January, Shelby witnessed Zucca fall and hurt herself trying to bring the bins back up her driveway. Ever since, he has taken time out of his schedule to lend a helping hand.

Over 10 months later, Shelby’s small act of kindness was captured by Zucca’s Ring doorbell security camera.

Zucca’s daughter, Colette, decided to upload it to Facebook with a note of gratitude.

“He demonstrates such care for her. It takes a village,” Colette wrote. “Such a small kind gesture but leaves a[n] enormous relief for us. Thank you kind sir.”

The small act of kindness made a big impact.
Source:
Caught on camera: Sanitation worker puts trash bins away each week for elderly woman after witnessing her fall< /a>

MN College Students Move into Senior Assisted Living Facility

Senior Living at Watkins has decided to welcome six Winona State University students to live in their manor after years of positive experiences with volunteers.

For $400 dollars a month, the students get a spacious room, all of their utilities paid and food provided. Not to mention, the manor is theirs to explore. They were selected through an application process.

“There is no place that’s off limits for them to be able to just sit down, relax and study,” said Cheryl Krage, the director of assisted living and hospice services. “We tell our students they can invite their study groups here.”

The students are required to volunteer at least 10 hours each month, participating in craft sessions, music lessons and eating meals with residents.

"Now, we have the students that are interested in learning from us and we are learning from them," said Nancy Neumann, a senior resident at Watkins.

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College Students Move Into Senior Assisted Living Facility

Sweethearts Forever. Then Came Alzheimer’s, Murder and Suicide.

“They were absolutely soul mates.”

By Corina Knoll

It began almost playfully, like tiny hiccups in her mind. She would forget she had already changed the sheets and change them again, or repeat a thought in the same breath.

Then the illness amplified. 

She grew confused by everyday tasks. Became convinced her parents were still alive and insisted upon a visit. At social gatherings, she was anxious and fearful. She forgot how to sew and cross-stitch. Forgot the faces of her children.

She did remember her name. Alma Shaver. But not her age. Eighty.

And sometimes, she did not know her husband.

He was Richard Shaver, a man whose wife of 60 years had been found by dementia, that thief that robs the minds of 50 million people worldwide. So common, yet so personally cruel — it comes with no road map for those tending to the afflicted.

For a while, Mr. Shaver managed. He would sit next to his wife and rub her hand, her knee, to try to calm the unease. He left notes explaining simple tasks. If she was stuck repeating herself, he asked yes or no questions to break the cycle. Did you graduate in 1957, Alma? Why, yes.

When visiting family, he picked out her clothes, usually the beige sweatshirt with the collar and a bird stitched on the front. He resorted to fast food in the drive-through lane so she wouldn’t have to get out of the car.

By the spring of this year, things had gotten worse, as they always do with an illness that takes and takes and takes. Ms. Shaver had slipped beyond a murky fog that her husband could not join.

Mr. Shaver waited until the two were alone in their Brick, N.J., home, a white colonial they had bought in retirement because the deck opened up to a lagoon.

The view from Richard and Alma Shaver’s deck, where they spent many afternoons sitting on the swing.Credit...Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

It was a warm Sunday afternoon in June, the kind of day where, in healthier times, he would have steered his boat out on the water, and she would have sat on the deck swing waiting for his return.

Instead, Ms. Shaver was in the upstairs bedroom asleep, the only peace she ever seemed to find.

Mr. Shaver, 79, crawled onto the canopy bed — the one they had shared for years — and shot his wife. 

Then he lay down beside her and shot himself.

He asked her to the Candyland Cotillion, a high school dance, in 1956. He arrived in a dark suit with his blond hair slicked to one side. She wore a sleeveless dress and a circle of pearls. He swiped her dance card and scrawled his name across all seven lines.

They had known each other since childhood, not unusual in the village of Shadyside, Ohio. That night, Alma Archibald went home and declared, “I’m going to marry that Richard Shaver.”

Two years later, they eloped.

They eventually moved to Landing, N.J., where they raised three daughters. By then, Mr. Shaver had worked for NASA and G.E. in electrical engineering and was traveling often for RCA.

Bright and fiercely independent, he insisted on doing home repairs himself. He bought a motorcycle and taught his girls to ride it. 

He liked to plan ahead, hiding envelopes of cash around the house in case of emergency and writing a guide to finding each one. 

Ms. Shaver was strong-willed and warm, meticulous about her home and her appearance. She had meals on the table at 5 p.m., dressed up as Mrs. Claus, led a Girl Scout troop, delivered handmade gifts. Families liked to use her as their emergency contact.

The Shaver family in 1972.Credit...Kristy Truland

Friends were drawn to the Shavers’ energy, charisma and laughter. 

“They were absolutely soul mates — crazy about each other,” said Gerry O’Connell, 71, who lived on the same block as the Shavers for two decades. “You’d never hear one say anything bad about the other. My husband traveled and I’d get mad, I’m here alone with the kids. But Alma never would get mad at Dick. She was just happy to drive down in the snow to pick him up at the train station.”

In 1992, the couple moved to Brick near Barnegat Bay where they were a comforting sight in the neighborhood — pulling weeds, riding bikes, holding hands.

At home and when visiting others, the two tended to be in the same room, often sitting side by side.

Alma and Richard Shaver celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in 1983.Credit...Kristy Truland

Mr. Shaver had always been flippant about what he wanted in his final years. 

He would joke about overdosing on pills when the time came, or say he didn’t want a funeral, just a party with lots of booze and funny stories. He referred to nursing homes as “The Place.”

“Don’t send me to The Place,” he would say.

When his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease a few years ago, Mr. Shaver avoided discussing it and grew evasive about the future. He dismissed offers of help and suggestions that he hire a home health aide. His daughter Karen McDonald wanted to buy him a home near her. He declined.

“He didn’t want to talk about it, just like, ‘Mind your own business, I’m taking care of it,’” Ms. McDonald, 58, said. “His whole life was always about her. She was the most important. Not the kids or the grandkids. It was her.”

One of the few times Mr. Shaver admitted to being rattled by the disease was when his wife lashed out at him, recalled his daughter Kristy Truland, 52.

“She started screaming, ‘I don’t know who you are, get away from me, don’t touch me!’ to my father in the house,” said Ms. Truland, who spoke to her parents every day.

The Shavers’ daughters, Kristy Truland (left) and Karen McDonald, had tried to help their father with their mother. “He said, ‘When I married her, I promised her I’d take care of her the rest of her life,’” Ms. Truland said. Credit...Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

Her father had saved well for retirement, and she urged him to think about moving to an assisted living center. 

“He didn’t want to be a burden, didn’t want to go to a nursing home — none of it,” Ms. Truland said. “And definitely didn’t want to leave her for us to take care of. He would say, ‘You’re just gonna put her in a home.’”

Mr. Shaver’s own health was a mystery. He complained of back pain, but never revealed the results of doctors’ visits. 

At one point he declared that he and his wife were going to take a break from doctors, because they didn’t seem to be doing any good.

Their home grew dusty and unfamiliar. Mr. Shaver turned down his daughters’ gift of a cleaning service. The home had once been a hub for the family, where the couple hosted children and grandchildren. But Ms. Shaver herself had become childlike.

“The first time she didn’t know me, I was crying in the shower,” Ms. Truland said, “because my mother was gone.”

In late May, Ms. Shaver fell in the garage, nearly taking down Mr. Shaver with her. The incident unnerved him. 

Ms. Shaver ended up having to go to the hospital. The following week, Valerie Dominioni, a friend who lived across the water, stopped by with a rose.

“Alma really appreciated it,” Mr. Shaver later told Ms. Dominioni on the phone. “You’re such a good neighbor.” He sounded emotional. 

Ms. Dominioni, 75, thinks of that call often, as well as something Ms. Shaver said to her earlier that afternoon.

“We have to go away,” Ms. Shaver said. “You understand, don’t you?”

Richard and Alma Shaver in May with their daughter Karen McDonald (left) and granddaughter Alissa Ryan.Credit...Kristy Truland

Their bodies were discovered on June 10 after police arrived for a welfare check. Ms. Truland, their daughter, had been unable to reach them for their usual phone call.

Coroner’s reports would reveal that Ms. Shaver tested positive for the painkiller Oxymorphone and had been shot in the back of her neck. Mr. Shaver had been shot in the mouth. 

The reports also noted that Mr. Shaver had metastatic tumors on his liver and kidneys and suffered from emphysema. 

Authorities would file away the deaths as a murder-suicide, an act of domestic violence, and the news was posted on an anti-gun violence website.

Months later, the surviving family members have come to see it like this: It is not the ending they would have chosen. But they won’t hold it against their father.

“If you knew him, it makes sense,” his daughter Linda Shaver, 55, said. 

They have no idea when or how Mr. Shaver acquired the revolver. Going through his things later, they found a box of pills with a note that had one daughter’s phone number and a receipt for a recent hotel stay. Perhaps a quieter plan had failed. Ms. Shaver had been having trouble swallowing lately, a symptom of the disease’s progression.

Mr. Shaver’s death especially stung his daughters. They were accustomed to their mother not being entirely there. They never thought their father would soon leave, too. 

But they are thankful to not be embroiled in a murder trial. And impelled to now lead full lives, aware that the disease could come for them, too. 

There is one thing that still makes them collapse inside when they reflect upon it all: the thought of their father in his last hour on that bed.

They imagine him lying next to his dead wife, placing the towel over his face, slipping the gun into his mouth, telling himself it was time to pull the trigger. He must have felt so alone.

A bench on the boardwalk of Point Pleasant where the Shavers loved taking their grandchildren. On one side it reads, “Last turn,” the words Mr. Shaver would say to his wife on the walkie-talkie when returning home in his boat.Credit...Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

Two weeks after the Shavers died, their family had a party.

It was not the one Mr. Shaver had once requested in lieu of a funeral, but there were fireworks and flowers and spinning lights.

Their granddaughter, Alissa Ryan, got married.

Ms. Ryan wrote a speech for a host to read that acknowledged the tragedy, but asked guests to welcome a new love story. It set the tone. Let’s be happy today.

Family and friends danced, toasted, embraced, caroused.

There was a moment before the celebration that Ms. Ryan had wondered how exactly one continues on with a wedding so soon. But, while some were upset at her grandfather’s timing, she was not.

“They were in pain for how many years? They didn’t even know what day it was,” Ms. Ryan, 31, said.

Mr. Shaver had, in fact, been aware of the upcoming nuptials. The only note he left behind was inside a blue envelope addressed to Ms. Ryan and her husband and placed on the dining room table.

It offered no insight into the end of the Shavers’ time together, only a simple wish from a man who had come to know what must be cherished.

“May you both have many years of happiness,” it read. “May life be good to you.”

Full Article & Source: 
Sweethearts Forever. Then Came Alzheimer’s, Murder and Suicide.

Macomb County man at center of high profile guardianship case passes away

By: Heather Catallo

(WXYZ) — We have some sad news to pass along in a high-profile guardianship case first exposed by the 7 Investigators.

The guardianship nightmare involving Bob Mitchell and Barbara Delbridge sparked a social media firestorm and caught the attention of Michigan’s Supreme Court and Attorney General.

Sadly, Bob Mitchell passed away this week.

The 7 Investigators first showed you in May how family members said a professional guardian had prevented them from seeing Bob and Barb.

“I just want my parents back,” Marcie Mitchell told 7 Investigator Heather Catallo in May. At that point, Marcie said she wasn’t allowed past a six-foot-tall privacy fence to visit her dad and stepmom in their Utica home.

Marcie Mitchell had tried to get guardianship of Bob and Barb, but instead Macomb County Probate Judge Kathryn George appointed Caring Hearts Michigan Inc. as guardian and conservator. Caring Hearts is owned by Catherine Kirk.

After 7 Action News exposed how Kirk then hired her own home-care company and her husband’s law firm to bill Barb and Bob’s $2 million estate, the Macomb County Chief Judge stepped in and returned the couple to their family in June. The Attorney General also since removed Robert Kirk from his position as a State Public Administrator.

“The way they were returned to us was not the shape they were in when this happened. They went from being verbal, communicating, to enjoying eating and doing things, to when they were here [under guardianship] -- nothing. As far as we know they never even got to go outside, except for Bob trying to escape,” said niece Gretchen Sommer in a recent interview with Catallo.

Gretchen and Marcie have both told 7 Action News they believe both Bob and Barb were over-medicated while under guardianship with Caring Hearts.

“It’s not fair. It was taken away from him. He worked his whole life. He saved. He was smart. And then a 2-month span makes a person a completely different person that’s not functional,” said Marcie in a September interview.

In November, Barb suffered a stroke and died.

Then on Christmas Eve, family members say Bob passed away as well.

Now they’re hoping the Attorney General will keep investigating this case and other guardianship cases to make sure other vulnerable adults are not separated from their families.

“I hope they are going to get to the bottom of everything that’s happened, not only for my parents but for so many others this happened to,” said Marcie.

Lawyers for Caring Hearts Michigan have claimed family members were not properly caring for Bob and Barb, and they have asked a judge to approve more than 376-thousand dollars in legal and guardianship fees on this case. The 7 Investigators have asked multiple times since May to interview Catherine Kirk, but her lawyers have continuously declined that request.

The family is fighting the fees, and deny they neglected Bob and Barb. They will be back in court January 10, 2020.

To report elder abuse or guardianship fraud, contact the Michigan Attorney General’s office: https://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-359-82917_92157---,00.html
 
If you need to file a complaint about a probate court, contact the Supreme Court Administrator’s Office: https://courts.michigan.gov/self-help/complaints/pages/default.aspx


Full Article & Source:
Macomb County man at center of high profile guardianship case passes away

See Also:
Caring Hearts Michigan backs out of disputed guardianship case in wake of 7 Action News report

Michigan AG opens investigation into Macomb Co. probate case following 7 Action News report

Why did a Macomb Co. judge put strangers in charge of an elderly couple instead of family?

'I just want my parents back.' Woman says company imprisoned her parents in their own home

Michigan AG 'looking into' concerns about state's adult guardianship system 

These new Tennessee laws go into effect this week

Staff Photo by Robin Rudd/ Representative Robin Smith answers a question. Members of the Hamilton County Legislative Delegation spoke to the Times Free Press at the newspaper's offices on November 15, 2019.

NASHVILLE — While Tennessee's new law allowing would-be gun owners to get a concealed carry handgun permit with video training is consuming most of the attention, here are some of the other 17 laws taking effect Jan. 1:

* The "Right to Shop" health insurance price transparency law, sponsored by Rep. Robin Smith, R-Hixson, will allow people with commercial health insurance plans to access a member portal in their insurance plan where they can shop and compare health care service prices as they look to lower costs in four categories: medical imaging work such as X-rays or CT scans, infusion therapy involving administration of medication through a needle or catheter, physical therapy and occupational therapy.

"It is a new way to approach health care that hopefully will correct some of the issues causing health care [costs] to increase," said Smith, a registered nurse who is chairwoman of the House Insurance Committee.

People "are really getting to see that our utilization of health services has declined over the past years, but costs increase," Smith said, calling it "just a function of contracting through insurance companies. This [law] is going to be a little bit of pressure for the cost curve to bend down."

"If you know in advance, unless it's an emergency, you have broader control," Smith said.

She noted some health insurers, which fought a broader version of her bill, have already started posting the information for policy holders to shop. As it takes effect Wednesday, the new law applies solely to commercial insurance but it will later apply to TennCare and Medicare, Smith said.

* Tennessee seniors will see more protection under a law pushed by Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga.

It revises existing safeguards and procedures in the existing Elderly and Vulnerable Protection Act to add new focus on crimes involving sexual exploitation of an elderly or vulnerable adult.

It expands the definition of "neglect" to include failure by a caregiver to make a reasonable effort to protect an elderly or vulnerable adult from abuse or sexual exploitation.

And it requires people convicted of abuse, sexual exploitation, neglect or financial exploitation to be placed on a registry managed by the Tennessee Department of Health.

Gardenhire said he pushed the issue after hearing "a lot of testimony that some elderly person was in bed and not being able to defend themselves and taken advantage by the people in the nursing home or assisted living place. It really left them vulnerable."

Noting he'll likely follow through with more legislation in 2020, Gardenhire said, "We want to make sure we really close the loop on all the elderly abuse that goes on."

* A bill requiring the state health insurance plan to allow use of proton radiation therapy to treat cancer, vetoed in 2018 by then-Gov. Bill Haslam, made its way through the General Assembly and was signed by Gov. Bill Lee this spring.

Proton therapy is seen as a more targeted radiation approach that is less harmful to surrounding healthy tissue. Rep. Smith sponsored the House bill, telling colleagues in April that "we're just moving and making this available based on the recommendations of leading cancer authors."

* Another new law seeking to better inform health care consumers about costs and billing goes into effect this week. Dubbed the Healthcare Billing Clarity Act, it helps patients figure out what charges come from a hospital and what charges come from a specialty physician working there. According to the Urban Institute, 54% of patients in the United States say their medical billing paperwork and invoices are confusing.

* A new state grant program will provide funding for select volunteer fire departments to use in the purchase of firefighting equipment or to meet local match requirements of federal grants for the purchase of equipment and training. It was sponsored by Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, who has worked as a volunteer firefighter.

* Residential contractors who were licensed on or after Jan. 1, 2009, now will be required to complete eight hours of continuing education course work every two years. Active membership in a professional trade association, approved by the board, qualifies as four hours of continuing education annually. Proof of membership must be filed with the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors biennially. The new law requires provisions allowing both online and in-person training.

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These new Tennessee laws go into effect this week

Elder Financial Fraud Reaches $1.7 BILLION

In February 2019, McKnights’s Senior Living reported, citing a report just released from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that financial elder fraud reports had quadrupled since only 2013, reaching $1.7 billion in actual losses or attempted thefts, and those figures were for the year 2017.

The CFPB report is based on suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed with the federal government by banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies, and other financial institutions. It is not only believed that the trend is continuing to rise, but that these reports still only represent a fraction of the elderly financial exploitation.

Although the average loss was just over $34,000, approximately 7% of the reported victims lost over $100,000 each. One-third of the victims involved people over age 80 years old. The largest losses reported involved suspects that were people that the victim already knew either personally or professionally.

The CFPB has published a number of materials to help protect elderly persons from financial abuse including numerous reports and materials, even a financial education placement to remind older adults about financial issues. The CFPB website is a resource for these materials. In addition, you can report elder financial abuse to local law enforcement authorities, as well as federal resources such as the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov/complaint) or to the Senate Special Committee on Aging at www.aging.senate.gov/fraud-hotline.

According to the National Adult Protective Services Association, only approximately 1 out of every 44 cases of financial abuse even gets reported. Policy makers and regulators are trying to ramp up the focus on financial elder abuse. New legislative efforts at the state and federal level, new proposals by state and federal securities regulators are aimed at helping to prevent financial exploitation of seniors. Insurance companies and broker-dealer firms all seem to acknowledge and agree with the goal of protecting seniors from abusive sales practices when it comes to financial services products. However, the same firms also lobby to prevent real change such as a fiduciary standard, and also voice concern that any material change from the status quo in terms of new regulations will add costs to their business.

The Investment Fraud Lawyers and Annuity Fraud Lawyers at Haselkorn & Thibaut, P.A. can handle these cases nationwide. Please call them today for a free consultation 1-800-856-3352 or visit us at www.investmentfraudlawyers.com. With over 40 years of combined experience, these former bank and broker-dealer attorneys are available now to for you, the investor.

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Elder Financial Fraud Reaches $1.7 BILLION

Florida Congressmen Champion the Senior Guardianship Social Security Protection Act

Three members of the Florida delegation are championing a proposal to have state courts notify the federal government when guardians are removed in order to keep them from collecting Social Security benefits.

At the end of last week, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., introduced the “Senior Guardianship Social Security Protection Act” which will direct “state courts to notify the Social Security Administration (SSA) when a court-appointed guardian is removed for cause, so they can be blocked from collecting Social Security benefits on behalf of the seniors under their care.”

Two other members of the Florida delegation–Republican U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis and Democrat U.S. Rep. Darren Soto–are cosponsoring the proposal.

When the congressmen showcased the bill on Monday, Crist pointed to reports about guardians who have raided the assets of the seniors they are supposed to be taking care of, including a case in Pinellas County where a guardian of more than 30 seniors is accused of stealing more than $500,000 from one of them.

“Abuses within the professional guardianship system are finally coming to light, and it’s abundantly clear that the system, and oversight of it, is broken,” said Crist. “This legislation is another way we can help crack down on abusive practices and better protect our seniors from bad actors in the guardianship system.”

“This important bill provides one more layer of protection to ensure our most vulnerable citizens do not become victims of exploitation,” said Bilirakis.

“I am proud to co-lead the Senior Guardianship Social Security Protection Act. This is the first step in ensuring the reduction of the increasing cases against those elderly and vulnerable from abuse and fraud,” said Soto. “It is imperative that there is open communication between Social Security Administration and state government in order disable those with negative intentions. There must be accountability for guardians deemed unfit but continue to abuse the system because of the lack of communication between SSA and state governments.”

Crist’s office noted that the bill would increase communication between state courts and the SSA to make sure former guardians do not have access to the Social Security funds of their former charges.

The bill was sent to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee last week. So far, there is no companion bill over in the U.S. Senate.


Full Article & Source:
Florida Congressmen Champion the Senior Guardianship Social Security Protection Act

Durable Power of Attorney: Is yours "Hot" Enough?

Many states, including North Carolina, allow people to execute certain legal documents called Powers Attorney. In a Power of Attorney, a person, called the Principal, can appoint other trusted individuals, called Agents, to make financial transactions and decisions for the Principal. The purpose of a Power Attorney is so that an Agent is appointed and legally permitted to access and manage the Principal’s property on the Principal’s behalf. Powers of Attorney are heavily relied upon when a Principal becomes unable to manage their affairs or finances due to age or declining health. When a Principal is no longer able to manage their assets, then an Agent’s ability to handle the Principal’s assets is limited only to the specific legal permissions granted within the Power of Attorney.

Not all Powers of Attorney are created equal, however.  Powers of Attorney can vary in terms of scope and complexity.  The specific language used in a Power of Attorney can impact whether an Agent can use or access the Principal’s assets to maximize asset protection. The permissions granted within a Power of Attorney can often ensure that the Principal’s estate plans are followed even if the Principal needs long-term care.

Some Powers of Attorney are very simple and may only permit an Agent to access and manage money, accounts, or property. Under these basic Powers of Attorney, an Agent may pay bills, make investments, and even sell property if necessary.  With a simplified Power of Attorney, an Agent may only be obligated to use the Principal’s money for the Principal’s needs.  The North Carolina Statutory Short Form Power of Attorney, which many people still use today, is an example of a simplified Power of Attorney that grants the most basic permissions to an Agent to handle the Principal’s property or finances.  A short form Power of Attorney may avoid the need for a court-appointed guardianship while offering an Agent the ability to access and use the Principal’s assets for the Principal’s needs. In most cases, however, a short form Power of Attorney is deficient in authorizing an Agent to engage in any asset protection or to make critical financial, legal, or long-term care planning decisions for the Principal. In fact, under such circumstances, a short form Power of Attorney can detrimentally impact not only the Principal, but also a Principal’s spouse—particularly if they share ownership of certain assets.

Some Powers of Attorney can also grant extraordinary powers to an Agent that provide for significant asset protection or allow for more complex planning. These powers are commonly known as “hot powers” and need to be specifically stated in a Power of Attorney as giving the Agent permission to conduct such transactions. These hot powers are well-named, since they give an Agent considerable power to create or modify the Principal’s financial and estate objectives. Among some of the hot powers that could be considered in a Power of Attorney are the following:

• The power to create, amend, revoke or terminate a trust during the Principal’s lifetime. Trusts can be effective tools to avoid the public process of probate. The hassles and the expenses of probate can be avoided with a trust. Trusts may also be effective tools for providing for loved ones in blended families, with real estate owned in other states, or in providing for minors or disabled beneficiaries.  With the proper limitations, an Agent under a Power of Attorney may fulfill the Principal’s estate planning objectives and asset protection goals by creating and funding certain kinds of trusts for the Principal. 
• The power to create or change rights of survivorship. This powerful tool could allow the Agent to maximize the Principal’s estate planning goals for assets ranging from real estate to bank or investment accounts.  Significantly, this hot power can protect assets for long-term care planning.
• The power to create or change a beneficiary designation. With the right limitations, this hot power could allow an Agent to update beneficiary designations on certain assets, again for the purposes of fulfilling estate planning goals and asset protection objectives. 

The most popular hot power is the power to make a gift of money or property. This power is often used to continue a plan of gifting or to protect money or property from having to be spent entirely on long-term care. A gifting hot power could be beneficial to provide for a spouse who remains at home when the other spouse enters a care facility.  The power to gift can be limited to a dollar amount or unlimited in scope. The power to gift can also be restricted to certain recipients like a spouse or family members.

Executing a Power of Attorney with these hot powers requires careful decision making and discussion with an attorney to decide if hot powers are appropriate for each person’s unique circumstances.  Many hot powers are practical to have if a person is concerned about asset-protection for long-term care planning. However, great consideration needs to be given as to who will be given the powers and under what terms.  An Agent needs to understand the responsibilities owed to the Principal by using the hot powers.

Critically, a Power of Attorney—with or without hot powers—is not a document that a Principal should attempt to download from the internet to execute on one’s own.  Aside from concerns that the document may not be validly executed or recorded properly, Powers of Attorney found online are largely deficient in offering the specific hot powers necessary for asset protection planning. Online forms are often not state-specific. An attorney can and should advise a client as to whether hot powers are appropriate for the client’s needs.  Additionally, the attorney should advise the client whether the Agent or the hot powers should have any necessary limitations that are appropriate for the client’s needs.

Further, a Principal can only execute a Power of Attorney—with or without hot powers—when the Principal has the cognitive capacity to understand what the document can do.  Many families who are seeking to protect assets for loved ones may find out too late that an existing Power of Attorney lacks the specific hot powers needed to conduct any meaningful planning. At this same time, a Principal’s cognitive decline would prevent the Principal from executing a new Power of Attorney with hot powers. For this reason, it is beneficial to meet at least annually with an elder law or estate planning attorney to review existing documents, discuss any changes in the law, and discuss plans for an Agent’s responsibilities.

Adding an inexpensive durable Power of Attorney that contains hot powers to an estate documents, while a person is still healthy to sign such documents, can offer critical opportunities for long-term care and financial planning.


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Durable Power of Attorney: Is yours "Hot" Enough?