When clients seek me out for aged care advice, it is usually not in a free and stress-free mindset. There is typically a health event that has driven the conversation, and the family agrees it's time to consider care. This stress is exacerbated, however, when we hit roadblocks in getting advice due to a lack of preparation. These roadblocks can delay or stop assistance altogether and make things much worse.
In today’s blog, I cover a few roadblocks that can hold up aged care advice and what actions you can take now so if you do need to help a loved one go into care, the process is much smoother.
Power of Attorney
Does my client have capacity?
Do they have a current power of attorney?
Is the person that I am speaking to the power of attorney?
The existance or lack of a power of attorneyis a gateway to whether we can even provide advice. Where these questions all line up, there is no problem and we continue on, but where there is a mismatch between a Power of Attorney document and the family member working with my client, or no documentation, it can cause some issues, especially where the client has limited or no capacity. Often in these instances, until I have someone I can speak to, I can’t actually continue assisting.
Another issue that is less common is when the attorney document has been photographed badly or only in part and is insufficient for me to act on.
How to Make This Easier
If you think you may need advice on aged care for a loved one soon, they should speak with a lawyer to organise Powers of Attorney.
Have several certified copies of the Power of Attorney ready to go, as well as copies of your ID.
Where your loved one lacks capacity and you have no Attorney, commence the process of obtaining Court Appointed administration.
Aged Care Assessment
Where are they right now (Home, Respite, Transition, or Care)?
Have they been assessed? If so, to what degree (do we have the "go" for Respite and residential Aged Care)?
Another gateway, but less of an issue on my part. If the client is already in respite or care, it’s usually not an issue, but often people come to see me last minute, with Mum or Dad having just left hospital, and the family has agreed they need to go into care, but they have not been assessed. This is often an oversight by several people and is not common but can create delays.
How to Make This Easier
If your parent or loved one ends up in hospital, and it is likely they may need to enter care soon, get them assessed in hospital. This can be organised by the social worker with a day or so turnaround. Once they go home, it can be 6-10 weeks before they can get assessed, creating huge delays and family stress if they aren’t able to be left alone.
Get them assessed by ACAT/S regularly anyway, as they may benefit from a Home Care package in the meantime.
Information for Aged Care Advice
What is their current financial situation?
Who are the important or key people?
How do I know this is accurate and up to date?
What does Centrelink know?
Does all this evidence match up to the same person?
Information is everything in aged care advice, and not having all the pieces to the puzzle can make my job impossible or the advice I give incorrect.
I gather as much information on my client as I need, including assets, liabilities, income, expenses, and their family tree. I also like to understand who I am working for and ideally meet them to get a real idea of what is most important in their lives.
A key point of this is evidence of that information. I need this both for myself so I can stand by my advice and know it is accurate and correct, but also in updating Centrelink (who will need evidence of all changes).
I also need to know what Centrelink knows (usually evidenced through being a correspondence nominee). You would be shocked how often Centrelink information is a decade out of date, with assets missing or completely incorrect.
One last common roadblock I see in this is variations of names. It is so common to see older clients who have five different names or variations of their names across different financial products and IDs. The most I had was 33 variations of one clients name.
How to Make This Easier
Either get your loved one to update Centrelink where they can, or if not, have the Power of Attorney made a correspondence nominee and update this to ensure it’s accurate.
Help your loved one consolidate bank accounts, making keeping track of records easier.
Have a central record of evidence for assets, liabilities, incomes, expenses, and legal documentation.
Ensure all accounts and IDs match, and if not, start the process of lining them up by deciding on the Central and Correct name and sending Stat Decs out to all relevant parties.
The Will
How have they structured their estate?
Have they nominated specific assets to specific people?
Does this will structure influence how I structure my advice?
The way a will has been written can completely change how I provide my advice. It is not uncommon for the testator/trix to leave specific assets or silo pools of their money for specific beneficiaries – e.g., I give my shares to Child A and my super to Child B.
When I provide advice on how to fund aged care, I look at these various assets to decide if we need to sell any of them down to fund the RAD, and in doing that, I can undermine the testamentary wishes of my client if I don’t understand what they were.
A common roadblock here is also where there is mystery around a will, where my client has kept their will secret to avoid infighting. This can also be problematic as it can put a stop to my advice.
How to Make This Easier
Keep a certified copy of the most recent will with all important documentation.
Where you can’t, keep the details of the solicitor who has the will, as they may be able to provide it directly to me.
If there is no will and they still have capacity, bring a lawyer in to write a will.
Summary of Actions
Power of Attorney
Where there is no Power of Attorney, get one! (where your loved one has capacity)
Have several certified copies of the Power of Attorney ready to go, as well as copies of your ID.
Aged Care Assessment
Ensure your loved one is assessed by ACAT/S regularly anyway and gets assessed when in hospital, checking the Respite and Residential Care boxes.
Aged Care Information
Either get your loved one to update Centrelink where they can, or if not, have the Power of Attorney made a correspondence nominee and update this to ensure it’s accurate.
Help your loved one consolidate bank accounts, making keeping track of records easier.
Have a central record of evidence for assets, liabilities, incomes, expenses, and legal documentation.
Ensure all accounts and IDs match, and if not, start the process of lining them up.
Wills
Keep a certified copy of the most recent will with all important documentation.
Where you can’t, keep the details of the solicitor who has the will, as they may be able to provide it directly to me.
If there is no will and they still have capacity, bring a lawyer in to write a will.
In Closing
If you have these ducks in order, the process of getting aged care advice becomes substantially easier, and you can focus more on helping your family member transition into care, instead of worrying about where the will is and what assets they have.
Even if your loved one never needs to go into care, these steps make life much easier when helping them day-to-day and when managing their estate.
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