My father in law is definitely getting older.
He was never particularly organized, but in the past few years, he has gotten much worse.
In particular, paying his bills has become more of an issue. He has the money (he made sure we knew), he just doesn’t take care of his obligations.
It has taken 3 months (and lots of nagging) for him to finish paying the bills related his wife’s funeral.
Last week, Mr. PiN went to check on the house (where he isn’t living, and which he refuses to consider selling) to find a shut off notice for his water. We paid that, and contacted his lawyer.
Yes, his long-time lawyer, who seems to have a lot of experience dealing with older clients.
He and Mr. PiN just had a nice phone call. The lawyer will go talk with his dad in the next few weeks about selling the house (we all know he won’t agree to that), and about setting up some sort of system to pay the bills.
Since his dad doesn’t listen much to Mr. PiN—I think he has some selective hearing loss—it is good to know that someone he trusts will be talking to him about his obligations.
However, it is a little scary to hear the lawyer blithely tell us that—as in the case of the funeral bill—he just made out the check and had the father in law sign it.
I do trust this lawyer—he’s known the father in law for decades—and having met him, I do think he will do the right thing. But I am no longer surprised at the stories in the papers about lawyers swindling their elderly clients out of vast sums of money.
Which makes me think: who do I really trust with my business, if something happens to me and Mr. PiN? Who will be my fiduciary? My legal power of attorney?
Do you have such a person arranged? How did you choose them?