Brother sick how to take care of his finances

[youngman1234]

Hello,

I have a question my brother is currently sick and in the hospital, he will be in the hospital for a long period now. It is serious. We both have worked very hard to build his credit, I currently am taking care of his bills paying on time and managing all the accounts. We have joint accounts in the sense all banks accounts are in both our names. However most credit cards are in his name under his social security number. What do I need to legally do to make sure I take care of his finances and credit obligations while he is in the hospital. Should I get a power of attorney ??? Please help we are all very stressed already with his health, this is just a stupid problem we need to solve.

Please all advise will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

God bless

[nicholasyud]

soorry to hear about your brother health.

Power of attorney should be fine.

Or just paid his bill with his credit card for a few months ( over paid ) then in  2-3 months you dont have to worry about it.

[youngman1234]

We pay and use multiple times a month. Concern is talking on his behalf with the credit card companies when u have to call in. I am already an add on user and have a secondary card for all his accounts. But I am saying if I call in have to speak to customer service or anything for his behalf.

[enharu]

Some cards have unemployment / disability benefits built in. Some are add in services that your brother might already have been paying for. Make sure you check those out as well.

Also, does your brother have any disability insurance?

[enharu]

Also it's best to just mail in power of attorney letters to the lenders

[RyVision]

Sorry your brother is ill, I hope things are expected to improve (you only said it was serious, I know medical details are not easy to share so we'll hope the best).

Like Nicholas said, you may need a power of attorney.  You can often find the text for them online, they're fairly simple (can depend on your state however).  If you have an attorney you use, you'll want to run it past him to be sure it complies.  Your brother will also need to sign it while he's fully aware of what is going on around him.

Being most things are in both of your names, you may be ok for a while if you're certain he'll be back to normal fairly soon.  If not, and I don't mean  passing away, there are many turns one's health can take other than death when they're seriously ill.  A power of attorney and a will are your best options really. There are more than one kind of power of attorney, some deal with health only, money only, etc.   Again, you can research most of it online but you may wish to ask an attorney if you can't find what you need.

Being on all (I think you said "all") the accounts, you shouldn't have much issue for the time being, that is if you're joint on the accounts and not just AU.  I just saw your second post.  If you're only an AU, you'll need a document to act on his behalf, so you need a power of attorney, financial at least.  AU's do not have the same authority as a  joint account holder, as in speaking to the CCC or bank on behalf of the person.  As a joint you have authority, with a power of attorney you have full authority granted by the type of power of attorney that's drawn up and he signs.   I hope that helps somewhat.

[RyVision]

I also agree and second Enharu's 2 posts above.  

[TheBrules]

Sorry to hear about your brother. Sending some prayers your way!

Get a POA signed and notarized ASAP. 

Good luck and hope he makes a full recovery!

[starry1]

I have MS and I am not married, so I have prepared for this situation, even though my health is very good and I still work 40-50 hours/week.  

I have insurance on all of my accounts and I have two relatives with limited POAs.  I actually work for a law firm, so I have my POAs set up so that they're only active when they've been co-signed by an attorney and then are only good for 60 days at a time.  This option might be kind of expensive for you, but it is free for me.