Power of attorney vs guardianship. Free in-home care for seniors in Florida.

Bob: First, thanks for taking my question, long-term listener, so I appreciate it. I'm 62, wife's 71, she's got early onset Alzheimer's, dementia. What can you tell me about conservatorships? Should I have one? I have a will, I have a power of attorney, I've heard that in the news but don't know much about it.

Attorney Tom Olsen: A conservatorship here in Florida is known as a guardianship. Bob, you do not want a guardianship. If you have to do a guardianship for your wife, then something has gone wrong. Bob, what you need to have for your wife is a good healthcare surrogate form where she appoints you to talk to her doctors, get access to her medical records, make healthcare decisions for her if she's not able to, and a good financial power of attorney that would allow you to manage her finances if you need to. Of course, you guys own a lot of things jointly, but even your wife has assets in her own name like social security and IRAs and retirement accounts, so you need to have a good financial power of attorney.

Bob, notice that I put the word good in front of both of those documents. Does that mean go down to the office supply store and buy one? No. It means get it done by an attorney. If you have a bad one, not a well-done one, or an old one, and push comes to shove, well, you may have to start a guardianship, and that means things were not done properly for you.

Bob: Got you. Okay. Thank you for that. A quick follow-up. If something were to happen to me first, do I just have to have good beneficiaries, my brother step in, or how does that work?

Tom Olsen: Both of these documents, these healthcare power of attorney, financial power of attorney, she would name you as her first choice. She would have a backup to you, so if something did happen to you, then we automatically go to choice number two. Now, let's move on to a different situation. Let's just say that she's got full onset Alzheimer's, and I'm so sorry for you and her, Bob. What you need to do is you need to do some estate planning that says if you pass away, you're not going to leave everything to your wife. You're going to put everything into a trust for her benefit.

You're going to appoint a trustee like your brother to manage your assets on behalf of your wife and use them for her benefit.

Bob: Right. Yes.

Tom Olsen: Then the other thing, Bob, I want to make you aware of is that Florida has a great waiver program where the state of Florida will provide up to 30 hours of in-home healthcare for you and your wife. At the beginning, at this moment in time, thank God, God bless you, you're able to take care of your wife's needs, but as things get further down the road, you may need some help. You may need some relief, and we have that through the Florida waiver program where the state of Florida will pay somebody up to 30 hours a week to come into your home and help you manage your wife, dressing, light cleaning, bathing, et cetera.

Keep in mind that that program is available to you when the time comes.

Bob: I did not know that. So just Google Florida waiver program?

Tom Olsen: We have a free booklet on that, Bob, and the booklet is called How to Get Free In-Home Care for Seniors. Bob, that would be my recommendation, is you call the Olson Law Group anytime and ask for that free booklet, How to Get Free In-Home Care for Seniors, and we'll mail that out to you. They'll tell you everything you need to know.

Bob: Thank you. You've been very helpful.

Tom Olsen: My pleasure, Bob.

Bob: This is excellent.

Tom Olsen: Thank you, Bob. I wish the best for you and your wife going down the road.

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