My deceased father used to take care of ALL of their financial matters, aside from a few investments my mom used to have. Since his death, I've realized that she has *no idea* how to manage finances, do her taxes, deal with banks, look after retirement savings, etc. I guess I have to somehow take over and be her representative for these matters, but I have idea how to do this!! I should preface this with saying we are Canadian, so any Canadian-specific advice is appreciated.
I assume that we need to go to a lawyer and get some sort of power of attorney set up? I'm really confused.
I wouldn't say that she's "not of sound mind" or anything, but with finances she just does not know what is going on and has not taken any initiative to figure out what's going on. For example, there was a mistake on her taxes this year which caused the government to claw back her Old Age Pension. She didn't notice that the bank neglected to give her the proper tax form to off-set the money she received from my dad's RRSP, so it was counted as income! She didn't show me the letter saying this until today! When I ask her financial questions every answer is almost always "I don't know!" she doesn't know what's going on with her RSPS, which have become RIFS since she's over 71, who knows if they're going to be deposited all at once into her account or slowly! She has no damn idea and neither do i!!! She's 73 never had any inclination to learn how to use a computer, so I do online banking on her behalf... but I'm pretty sure this is not allowed! We need to get this sorted before it's too late, I think.
Like, it's ridiculous! This is actually causing a lot of contention between us right now. It's very stressful because I just don't know what's going on with her money and I want to make sure that she has enough to live out the rest of her years, but she has no idea what's going on financially.
I assume that we need to go to a lawyer and get some sort of power of attorney set up? I'm really confused.
I wouldn't say that she's "not of sound mind" or anything, but with finances she just does not know what is going on and has not taken any initiative to figure out what's going on. For example, there was a mistake on her taxes this year which caused the government to claw back her Old Age Pension. She didn't notice that the bank neglected to give her the proper tax form to off-set the money she received from my dad's RRSP, so it was counted as income! She didn't show me the letter saying this until today! When I ask her financial questions every answer is almost always "I don't know!" she doesn't know what's going on with her RSPS, which have become RIFS since she's over 71, who knows if they're going to be deposited all at once into her account or slowly! She has no damn idea and neither do i!!! She's 73 never had any inclination to learn how to use a computer, so I do online banking on her behalf... but I'm pretty sure this is not allowed! We need to get this sorted before it's too late, I think.
Like, it's ridiculous! This is actually causing a lot of contention between us right now. It's very stressful because I just don't know what's going on with her money and I want to make sure that she has enough to live out the rest of her years, but she has no idea what's going on financially.