Q: I live in CA and my mother lives in a skilled nursing home in MS. POA is needed to stop sister from taking her funds.
My only sister lives in MS and she is taking money from her while she is in the facility permanently. When my mother admitted herself into the facility she emptied my mother home of everything. And has opened accounts in my mother name.
A:
Elder Abuse is a crime in every state of the Union. If it were here at home we could get a restraining order to keep your sister from taking the money. I am sure you can do the same thing in MS.
Do you mean that YOU want a POA over your mother? Your mother will have to possess the mental capacity to understand what she is signing. Powers of Attorney are pretty standard but you might want to see if MS has their own statutory form like California does that you can just download. Here we need the signature to be notarized too.
If your mother no longer has the mental capacity to grant a POA then you would need a court in MS to appoint you as her guardian/conservator. Here that takes a few months to accomplish though and anything can happen.
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