Hello All,
Looking for any insight into how others on here have established Power of Attorney for elderly individuals who are without any photo ID.
My Dad and I need to establish POA for my Grandmother so we can pay her bills and make medical decisions for her in the event she becomes mentally incapacitated.
Unfortunately, my Grandmother is bedridden and there is no way for her to get to the DMV for a state issued ID. She has never had one and has not had a drivers license for about 10 years (and we no longer have the old, expired one). She also does not have a passport.
It seems with the COVID-19 pandemic, we could have something notarized remotely, but we would still need the appropriate identification documents. I have no idea how to get her financial affairs in order without POA and worry what will happen if something worse happens that affects her cognition.
This is in Wisconsin.
Most state department of vehicles can send a field agent out to process an identification application & take a photo. Contact the DMV and see if that can be arranged but it may not be possible at the moment because of the pandemic.
Would guardianship give us the same medical and financial rights?
Your grandmother needs to be competent to assign POA. I would talk to a lawyer to see how it can be done since she is bedridden. Maybe he/she will come to the house. The financial is pretty cut and dry. My Moms medical read like a living will. She will need to sign it witnessed and have it notarized. That maybe where Mom needs ID. Some DMVs will come to the home.
She's currently in the hospital and they are not allowing any visitors, even family, but perhaps once she returns home or goes to a nursing home we can have someone from the DMV visit to get her a state ID. I don't know if things like that might be suspended during the pandemic. Wisconsin DMVs are operating differently right now.
Once we get the ID, I believe we can do the notarizing remotely.
At one firm where I worked, the attorney came to the house of a dying woman, brought a witness, and witnessed the execution. Since your GM would presumably be unable to go to an attorney's office, the attorney and a notary coming to her residence to handle document execution would solve the notary problem. The attorney would want to speak with GM privately though.
Would a notary and attorney coming into her home mean she would not need the photo ID documents?
Unfortunately right now she is in a hospital and they are not allowing any visitors, and she may be released directly into a nursing home for at least a week or two, and those are also not allowing visitors.
We are considering trying to take her to the DMV right after she gets released, since she'll be in the care anyway. It seems absurd we need to take a fragile, elderly women who can't walk on her own to the DMV (in the middle of a pandemic, of all times) to get this done but everything I've read suggest a notary will require a state issued ID.