Attorney Thomas B. Burton answers a reader question about whether the questioner will be held responsible for his father's medical bills and nursing home bills when the reader is serving as Agent for his father under a Durable Financial Power of Attorney document.
Transcript of Video: Can I Be Held Responsible for My Father’s Nursing Home Bills in the State of Wisconsin?
Today's question has to do with power of
attorney and an agent acting under a power
of attorney for finances the reader
writes if I am power of attorney for
financial reasons for my father and my
name is on his bank account am I
responsible for any debts he incurs and
it goes on to say father is moving into
assisted living he is no longer
responsible for his finances so I think
what the reader is saying is he's acting
under a durable power of attorney as the
agent for his father what that means is
he is named legally to take care of
paying bills for his father writing
checks paying the light bill etc and
he's wondering if he would be
responsible for debts for his father the
good news is as the agent for your
father you're not responsible for his
debts but you are responsible to manage
his assets under the duty of loyalty and
to act in accordance with his wishes as
laid out in the power of attorney document in
addition if you're on the bank account
then these funds are your father's but
it's presumably that it seems he's given
you access to the account you should
still act under the duty of good faith
and use these funds for your father's
care the one good thing about death is
that generally your debts die with you
so any debts your father incurred are not
your personal responsibility as his
agent and you should not pay them from
your own funds they would become if your
father passes they would become debts of
his estate and his estate would be
responsible for paying those debts
after death that means any assets he
owns at death would then be available to
the creditors during the probate process
there's a process where you publish a
notice to creditors of the person's
death if he dies owing more than he owns
then there is an order of priorities
under state law for which creditors
get paid first so the short takeaway is
you are not responsible for your
father's debts unless you co-signed on
some loan for him I don't recommend
doing this in most instances because as
I stated earlier the debts of your father
would die with him
I also don't recommend using your own
funds to pay for his debt because then
they become your liability whereas with
him they could possibly die with him at
that or get paid from the assets of his
estate so do your best to act under the
duty of loyalty faithfully for your father
under the financial power of attorney
thank you for caring for him but do not
worry about being liable for his debts
after death great question and thanks
for asking!
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