My dad is in the hospital and my aunt is living alone now. What will happen?
My dad is in the hospital now with congestive heart failure. They say he will not return home and he needs 24/7 care. He says he is not going to a nursing home or getting Medicaid. Idk what to do! He will go to rehab after the hospital in one or two more days. Then when he plateaus he will need to stay in the nursing home with pending Medicaid. But what if he refuses? And he cannot take care of himself? He has no dementia so he can make his own decisions. But what will happen?? Also, his elderly sister was living with him. She is supposed to also have 24/7 care, but rejected it. She cannot be living alone. She has the beginnings of dementia but is also quite smart and articulate so no one would know this unless they were around her a lot. Also, the house she is in is currently my dad's as a life estate. If he goes to a nursing home, it becomes ours (mine and my husband's). We can tell her she can't stay there because she is not safe, but then what? I believe she can afford assisted living, but how to get her to go? And what if there is a long waiting list - what to do in the meantime? I didn't sign up for this, but due to the house, it becomes my problem.
If it is found he needs 24/7 care, you will need to show that he will get it when he goes home. So, you tell the SW, I cannot care for my Dad in his or my home. He cannot afford aides. His sister is not capable of giving him 24/7 care. The Rehab cannot release him if its an "unsafe" discharge. What he wants will not matter. He will be transferred to LTC. If he has no money, he will need Medicaid. This means his monthly income, SS and any pension, will need to be used for his care. So, as said, this means you or the Aunt will need to pay the bills.
I would check out how Dads life estate reads. I agree, the house is Dads until his death, usually. The problem I see hear is how will Medicaid look at that house. Is Dad on the deed at all? If he is on the deed, Medicaid will consider it Dads home they can recover from. If its the 3 of you or two of you, then 1/3 or 1/2 of that is Dads. When he passes, the house would need to be sold to satisfy the lean Medicaid will put on it or you will need to pay the lean if you want to keep the house.
Your Aunt, you will need to tell her that she is going to need to find another place to live. Without Dad there, she cannot live alone. It depends on your relationship with your Aunt. I have one I would have done anything for but had another that I would have let the State take over her care. If she is hard to get along with, you may need to get APS involved saying she is a vulnerable adult. Then the State takes over her care. If u want, I would try and get her to assign u POA, I would not get guardianship. Its expensive and very hard to get rid of. It took a friend of mine ages because the State would not allow her to resign. She had to go thru a State Senator and he was able to get the State to take over. Problem though, they wil, not tell her where her cousin is now. Woman is 80 and just couldn't handle it anymore with a husband suffering from Dementia.
The best thing you can do is to tell the hospital and rehab discharge planner that he does not have 24/7 care at home. Regardless of what he says, it doesn't exist. (My dad tried to pull the I have 24/7 help and I told them it was not so. It stopped he being discharged home.)
I wouldn't just jump in and boot your aunt. If she has the beginnings of dementia, it will show itself in the lack of executive function. She will become an obviously vulnerable adult. Instead I would tell her that dad can't help pay any bills and if she is going to stay she needs to pay them. This includes property taxes, homeowners insurance, all utilities and all maintenance (that must be kept up). Make going to a facility a better option. Get brochures for facilities that are like resorts. She will probably get lonely with dad gone and the idea of others might appeal to her.
Sometimes we have to step back so people can get the care they need. Both your dad and aunt will have a say in what happens to them, it doesn't mean you need to prop it up. If dad wants to go home and is able to pull it off, you just have to step back and let him do it. That doesn't mean you become his solution.
Best of luck. Such a difficult situation dealing with 2 very elderly adults.
It is not yours until dad passes. A life estate is property, usually a residence, that an individual owns and may use for the duration of their lifetime. This person, called the life tenant, shares ownership of the property with another person or persons, who will automatically receive the title to the property upon the death of the life tenant.
Because dad setup the life estate it would seem that he wanted to die in his home. Would it be possible to get dad the care he needs in his home. Would you be willing to provide it to make it possible for the home to become yours?