This is a head's up for you if you think you will be in any way caring for your parent/s. And your parent may be cognizant but unable to wade through the mess and regulations that is our Social Security system.
They do not accept Power of Attorney from any aspect of any legal system in any form. So don't think you have that covered. I have a very comprehensive POA that allows me to do EVERYTHING as my mother. But SSA will not acknowledge the POA.
They will only accept my mother, in person, face to face. So the remedy to that is to become a "payee" on my mother's account. That can be done by the parent agreeing to that in person in the local SSA office. Now I have to go through the nursing home, affidavits from the doctor and the social worker. The nursing home has to make a statement that I am not intending to steal from her. On and on.
So my advice. Go brave the SSA, you will learn a lot about our country as well (grin), brush up on your Spanish, and get that done before your parent becomes incapacitated and you can make decisions and administer their SS benefits.It is a good thing to get a comprehensive POA as well and have that in the background. My friend's mother had a stroke and nothing in place. That was a nightmare for her.
Do it now while the parent is able to state their intentions. I filed it with the state to make it official. Only one place has argued with me saying they can ONLY accept the original and they wanted to keep it. I brought my mom, dressed her up to look coherent, and took all her money out of that bank the next week.
glen
