What happened to Mom and Dads money? You may find that you have a hard enough time managing your own financial day-to-day requirements, and now youre concerned about a parents financial well being. You may be busy, live in another town or even state, or just dont know how to proceed in helping them avoid missing payments, paying fraudulent bills, or are just not comfortable with the burden they face in keeping up with bill payments, tax returns, and estate planning. Often, in our modern society of geographically distributed families, proximity to the parent becomes the determining factor as to who helps with these concerns. I have seen family members become at odds with each other when they become involved with caring for an elderly parent. In some families, this puts a tremendous strain on relationships, making poor relationships even worse, and hurting, and even destroying, those that were previously good. To avoid, as much as possible, bad feelings and even feelings of mistrust, communication must be a top priority with all parties involved. Honesty and integrity must be the top priority for how all financial matters are handled. Take the time to have family meetings with your parents and siblings to go over and plan how to manage the financial independence of your parents. It may be useful to involve outside professionals to help with planning and managing the financial assets of the parent to reduce the feeling that one or more sibling is taking advantage of the situation and to provide the parent with confidence that matters are being handled appropriately. The use of the familys tax and legal advisors is very important for a number of reasons, most notably the annual filing of tax returns and the preparation of wills, trusts, and other legal instruments to provide for the parents financial well being while they are alive and to meet their desires as to the distribution of any estate. For daily money management, i.e. the payment of on-going financial responsibilities and the receipt of funds from social security, pension plans, and other sources of income, consider on-line bill payment and electronic deposit of funds. This can help avoid late payments and late payment fees, turning off of utilities, and potential damage to the parents credit rating. Consider reducing the number of outstanding credit cards that your parent may have to only a few gas, frequently visited department stores, and general use credit cards such as Visa and MasterCard. By closing unused card accounts, you reduce the risk of fraudulent use and limit the number of statements to review and payments to make. If you feel that the line of credit needed is why so many cards are held, talk with your preferred credit card company about consolidating any outstanding balances and establishing an appropriate credit limit on the few cards you feel should be maintained. Along these same lines, you may wish to contact the major credit bureaus and request that unsolicited credit offers be discontinued. In addition to the work involved with making payments and keeping track of financial records for taxes and other needs, the need for continued open communication among all the impacted family members is critical. Consider a periodic meeting to review the financial transactions made during the previous period of time, to plan for how the next periods expenses will be handled, and to share information with each other regarding concerns. Consider this running a small company, Mom & Dad,Inc. Involve those who care and let them know that everything is being taken care of on an above board basis. |
