Is there a service that provides management of elder person's finances?

Hello: Every county has a local Council on Aging or Elder Source to which you can turn for help. The post explaining the BayPath Massachusetts plan is just one way local counties utilize the monies from either state and/or federal sources. Each may have a different "name" but start at the county level, do a search for COUNCIL ON AGING. If they can't help they will point you in the right direction. In our area below a certain asset/monthly income level services are free; above that level the charge is a 1% co-pay. In my situation when it starts I will get six hours of respite care each week (I will use this tie for bathing my Mother, which is fine with them as long as I do manage to disappear for at least some of the time. That I will gladly do!) at a cost of $70.00 per month. The only hangup is these programs must wait for the necessary funds to be released by the state. Florida is a notoriously regressive state. However an election is coming up and so funds are starting to dribble out. Please check COUNCIL ON AGING before you start paying more than you can afford.

My elder sister had a money managing helper from BayPath Elder services. The BPES woman tracked her finances, wrote checks which were signed by the client.Banking statements were diverted to BPES so they could monitor the accounts and make sure she didn't overdraw by writing checks.

BayPath Elder Services, Inc. offers home care and related services enabling people to live independently and comfortably in their homes while promoting their well-being and dignity.

Many BayPath services are free, others are based on one's ability to pay, and some are offered on a fee-for-service basis.

Founded in 1977 as a nonprofit corporation, BayPath has over thirty years experience serving and advocating for the needs of older citizens. As a designated Massachusetts Aging Services Access Point, we depend upon state and federal contracts as well as private donations to provide vital services such as:

• Care management
• Homemaking, home-delivered meals
• Health promotion activities
• Support to councils on aging and senior centers
• Legal help
• Aid to the visually and hearing impaired
• Mental health counseling
Community Grants

As a designated Area Agency on Aging, BayPath receives federal funds under the Older Americans Act. We make grants to community organizations to support home delivered meals, legal services, transportation, mental health, health education and fitness, and services for the visually impaired.

What my Dad did for my Momma was after he passed to have me set-up a revocable living trust and put all of Momma's assets in that trust - including the checking account. I have all of her bills mailed to me three states away and I pay them for her and also manage three pieces of property that she owns - two in the state of AL and one in TN as her Trustee. I do get trustee fees, but the time and distance that I have to travel to handle all of this is not that much. We could have let the bank be the Trustee, but they charge huge fees and really don't want to be responsible for properties. My biggest problem is that bro and sis do not like it that I am handling Momma's finances because they are so use of getting money out of her and she is willing to give it to them, but does not know how to manage it. Does not have a clue. Never has. This puts me in a position were I am being talked about, cursed out, dumped all over and causing problems in my marriage. Momma takes up for bro and sis - has an excuse for everything. This also causes Momma and me to have problems. So I guess in your situation you have to decide if you want to stay out of it and she has the funds to hire somebody else to do it or do it yourself.

Really feel with you , dear jenni4jo, and the suggestion that there are kind folks who will do taxes for free...... that's all good and nice, but that means you have to take your receipts, etc, all nicely in order to them... and that is exactly the problem Seniors have ..:: Organizing..!!!
--- Even if they organize it today... they go to sleep, and after waking that memory has faded....they forget eventually, where they put things.... so they start another folder... etc. and so on... come tax time, items are missing..... and often that is upsetting to them, makes them hard to deal with, argumentative, as they feel THEY ought be able to still do this or that chore. Even with lite memory-loss, sleeping wipes the memory much cleaner than 30 years back. They are in the group like my aunt whom I told in a long discussion what we would do tomorrow... then came tomorrow and I was told..."You never told me that we had to go there..." "yes I did" ... "noooo - you did not..." and of course what a senior can do today... he/she will be able to do less of by next Tax-time, months down the road
... It is so hard us to realize that when we help someone, then walk away and think he/she can handle that now... the fact that the situation will not stay stable , they will not physically or mentally improve like younger folks recover from an illness... this group will decline,and get only worse..never mind what we do... so whatever is put in place to help them now, has to be a pretty much total relief from the duty they managed themselves before... otherwise you'll have to deal with it again a while down the road...!!!
If the chore that makes them argumentative is removed totally, it will improve their disposition, they will feel better... I have seen this in many of my patients. At times it's hard to get them to let go... but I just showed them that I was honest and could handle it... and that convinced them to let me take over in time.
If someone is removed by miles... The billing+ payments of monthly bills , could be changed to a relative's address by submitting a copy of Power of Atty. to each Company and the Senior's bank - who can assist by activating auto-payments of most of those bills.
That way the Chore of monthly bills is much less work, reduced to reading+checking the $ amounts and filing according to tax-filing needs.
In fact at age 78, most of my bills are auto-paid, which allows me to take an urgent, open ended trip to Europe... with no more than authorizing my busy daughter to pick up my mail every so often from the USPO within their allotted time-limit... about every 3-4 weeks...I think, have to check ,the Post office may have changed things again...
I had one patient in Fla., who had a lady come 2x/month to check and "do" the bills and then report all to the patient's sister, to be double-checked. This lady was a retired bookkeeper... I assume that it's easier to find such services in Florida.
I had another patient, where the bank did all the bills for that patient...and a lady employed by the bank would show up occasionally to discuss matters. I feel sure that was quite costly... I hope everyone in this blog finds good solutions + I wish every one well !!

Jenni, contact the AARP. At tax time they have accountants that will prepare taxes free of charge. Maybe some of them would help in this situation while keeping costs low. Just guessing.

Jenni, if you live three states away, you must have taken more than the day off?

Thank you all for the input - the only aadmm I could find in mom's area (Kuna, Id) seem like they may be more in the 'private' ($$$) field, but I will call some local senior resources an hope for low cost referrals. Her debt (husband just died) is a mess and she needs someone near her to help figure out bill paying again - I can put things in order from here, but I can't sit with her to pay bills, and I certainly can not continue to manage her life/finances while managing my own 3 states away with 10 hour days. Argh!!!

Sorry - I didn't realize the link would get stripped out. Do a search for the American Association of Daily Money Managers to find referrals.

Contact your local county health department, senior services. They may have a money manager. Depending on her income, the service might be free or she may have to pay privately.

I've been looking into assistance for my Mom who lives on the other side of the country. There are people called Daily Money Managers who perform this type of service: aadmm.

a couple threads up on the board is a younger woman who specializing in managing old mens money .. SHE WILL rub your feet , beat your me*t , drain your bank account .
cut your grass , shake that a** , score coke in any amounttt.

phoo, i cant songwrite with two ambian hypotizing me .. zzzzz

Boy I would be so nervous to turn that over to someone who I didn't know. I've read too many stories about seniors being taken advantage of by financial "helpers" or CPAs or even court-appointed guardians. I do it for my mom but she's not the least bit interested and doesn't fight with me.

I too would like to know about low cost options for helping seniors with their finances. I've been trying to assist mom from out of state, but am now needing to step out of the picture as her constant fighting and negativity is bringing me down with her and I need to care for myself. I'll be interested to know if anyone out there has found community resources that offer 'light' financial help (bill reminders, budget 'watch dogs', etc).

I would suggest contacting a CPA to handle the finances, of course there will be a fee involved.

No friends/family who will step up? How much "management" is needed? Maybe a court-appointed guardian. That's expensive and not necessarily the best answer. Maybe someone else knows of professional organizations who do that. I sure don't. Seems like it might be asking for trouble...