My father is 85 years old and has Alzheimer's. I live with him, and I am his full-time caregiver. Due to his needs, I stopped working full-time and now work part-time from home. Due to his income, he does not qualify for Medicaid, so I receive no financial compensation for his care. I need to buy a new car and have excellent credit, but I can't get financed because I'm only working part time. My father no longer owns a car. As his POA, can I finance a new car in my name (using my father as a co-signer) or do I have to pray my car holds together?
Someone with ALZ cannot co-sign a loan. Read your PoA document to see what financial powers you are provided. You may need to lease a car that his funds pays for. You need to keep very detailed notes so that you don't get wrongly accused of anything, plus the Medicaid "lookback" in most states is 5 years so don't do anything that will look like he is gifting you money.
"Due to his income, he does not qualify for Medicaid" ... do you know this for a fact? Did he apply and get denied? Or are you making an assumption? Also, Medicaid in most states only covers LTC (as in someone is immobile and cannot do their ADLs without help, or has a medical condition that requires full-time care).
You should use his funds to pay for a consult with an elder law attorney who will help you navigate your situation. It will be well worth the fee rather than asking non-professionals on a global and anonymous public forum.
It is very poor decision making to quite your job. Where will funds for your own aging come from.
Your father needs to be placed in care. If he has funds he will be self pay. If he has SOME funds he will be self pay and Medicaid will pick up the remainder of cost, with his SS and Pension being paid to his care facility plus whatever supplemental medicaid funds he needs. If he owns his own home it will be subject to claw back after his death. His money stands to buy his care, not a car. You need to return to work so you can at the least buy yourself a "beater" and begin to save for your own old age.
Sorry, but that's how I see it from where I stand. Only you can make decisions for yourself. But no one with Alzheimer's can put his signature on a legal document of any kind, and your encouraging him to do so is not only illegal, but possibly criminal.
You have some thinking to do, I think. And some decisions to make for yourself and your Dad's decline. Wishing you the best.
If so the VA may pay you to be his caregiver.
Check your local Agency on Aging or your local Senior Service Center and see if they have any programs that might help both of you.
If there is an Adult Day Program get him involved with that.
(I do have to ask why do you need a "new" car? No you can not use him as a co-signer. He no longer can enter into a legal binding contract.)
If your father has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and his doctor makes documentation that he cannot live alone and must have round-the-clock supervision and care you can start paying yourself.
I operate a homecare agency. We do not provide 'live-in' caregivers but normally how live-ins get paid is by salary. So, you find out how much a live-in caregiver gets paid in your state (not how much the agency charges for them) and that is what you pay yourself. Make a visit to the lawyer who did your POA it can't hurt to ask them about payment for your labor as a caregiver.
Here's how you buy the car. Your father is not on Medicaid. He will be if he needs to be placed in a long term care facility and outlives his assets which almost always happens.
You buy the car (in cash if possible) using his money because as POA your name is on his account. You put the car in both your names. Also, have the dealership make sure you name will also be put as a second lien holder on the title. This way it will not have to be probated as part of his estate, If for some reason you have to sell it to pay for a nursing home (which is unlikely because they spend-down the big assets like real estate, bank accounts, and insurance policies first, you'll be able to "buy" the car from his estate for his half of the value only. If he's not on Medicaid and you've got no immediate plans to place him you don't have to answer to them or to the greedy, money-grubbing business end of a nursing home who btw are way worse to deal with than Medicaid is.
If you can't buy the car outright in cash and have to make payments, take the special insurance out on it at the dealership which will pay the car off if one of you dies.
What I just told you here, an elder law attorney in the state of CT told me. A person can be on Medicaid and still have a car in their name too.
There are so many ways to get around this. Please talk to the lawyer whi did the POA.
If you are willing to place Dad, then there are ways to get around "he has too much money". Does he have any savings. Does he own the house he lives in. My Mom had 20k. That got her 2 months private paying in LTC. That gave me time to apply for Medicaid and get her OKd. The 3rd month she had Medicaid.
So you spend down Dads assets. If he is over the income cap, see if your State allows a Miller/Qualifying income trust. You will need to see an Elder Lawyer to set it up. You need to work for your Social Security earnings.