My father has been in the hospital for a week now and the social worker called and said he's no longer allowed to live on his own and has to move into assisted living or a nursing home. I've heard stories about how when you move into a nursing home, they get access to all the money the patient has for family when he passes, which were trying to avoid at all costs. The social worker suggesting me (his daughter, 23) to become his legal guardian so that I can get access to all of his accounts to make the process easier. The issue is, my father has dementia and no longer remembers what accounts he has, what banks or companies he has the money in and he has never talked to anyone in the family about where or what, we just know he has a good amount of accounts with money for when he passes. He signed over legal guardianship this morning so that's over with. Should I contact an attorney for next steps to find his accounts, if even possible? No one I know has been in this scenario so I have zero idea where to start.
Your father's assets need to go for his care while he's alive, not to be hoarded for anyone's inheritance. Whatever is leftover after he's paid for his care in full can be passed on to family. Do you understand that if he doesn't pay for his care with his own funds that then we (and you!) the taxpayers are then paying for his care for no good reason? If the county has guardianship, the money to pay for his care comes from our taxes. Everything that is "free" from the government is not free...it is "pre-paid" by tax paying citizens like us and you. You have your plate full at a young age and I sincerely wish you much luck in caring for your father!
Does your father have dementia? Who has been paying his bills now? If no one for many years then tax problems could make all this a moot point.
Guardianship can be quite costly. Often upwards of 10,000. And that would, yes, come out of his estate.
WHEN someone is appointed as guardian they are able to go through your father's home and affects to find monthly statements, et al, to trace down what has happened. How long has family been out of contact with him? Was he competently handling his own affairs until now.
I agree with Cali. It is too long the horse is out of the barn to worry about hiding all the money now. Social workers can access a whole lot, even tax stuff. They may already have some idea of assets. And if not, assets will be found, and collected for cost of care, even if they have to be collected from the "heirs" who may or may not be named in any will (perhaps he left it to the ASPCA).
Good luck.