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[quote=Anonymous]I was in a similar situation and if I could go back I would do the following:

- Ask to see the wills and understand all assets before you agree to be a POA, trustee, executor. You can't agree to something if you don't have all the information -- you're going in blind on whether they have any assets or not, etc. If he does not trust you enough to show you all estate planning/assets, then don't agree. It also makes the job SO much easier if all the assets, life insurance, etc. are documented somewhere before there is a crisis and you can ask questions. So many people have multiple bank accounts, etc.

- Make sure he has successor agents on everything. In my relative's case they had their spouse with no successor agents which is insane but it happens a lot when it is someone who doesn't have children of their own and aren't ready to relinquish control.

- I would push to be medical POA, financial POA, executor, and successor trustee. The reason is you don't want to have to fight someone else to get resources to take care of him. If a relative has financial POA and you have medical, then you can't make decisions unilaterally. Similarly, if you have medical POA and someone else is the trustee, then they might want to guard assets (their inheritance!) at the expense of care. Just a lot of ways it can get messy. You could have a co-POA/executor/trustee as well and it might be better to do that so it isn't all on you -- someone local who you trust a LOT.[/quote]

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