Are you, or is someone you know, raising a grandchild?  People over 50 are increasingly responsible for the care of young children and adolescents.  Sometimes young adults are unable or unwilling to be good parents themselves due to military service, divorce, substance abuse, mental illness, or other problems.

Legal authority.  Grandparents caring for a child or teen often do so at a time when their own resources – physical and financial – are limited. What information should you have, and where can you turn for legal and financial help?  A grandparent must have legal authority to make decisions for that child – about issues such as medical care and schooling. This can be done in several ways.

• If the child’s parents are willing, they can sign over a power of attorney, also called a delegation of parental rights, giving temporary rights to the grandparent to make medical, schooling and other decisions for the child.  This arrangement is meant to be temporary, and the parent may revoke the document at any time.   

• If the child is to be enrolled in school, however, the school may insist that you do more — provide proof that you are the child’s legal guardian. To do this, you must file papers with the probate court. The process may be simple if the child’s parents agree, but will be more complex otherwise. The probate office at your county courthouse can tell you more.

• If the child has been abused or neglected, the Department of Health and Human Services may be involved. You can seek to become the child’s foster parent, enabling you to make parenting decisions and get financial help. As a “caretaker relative,” you have the right to certain notices and information from the DHHS regarding their plans for the child. To read the Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ kinship care policy, go to www.maine.gov/dhhs/ocfs/cw/kinship.shtml

• Some grandparents – typically, where the parents have died or abandoned the child – may adopt the child, through the probate court. If the child has a disability or special needs, a subsidy may be available to the adopting grandparents.

Financial help for grandparents. If you are on a fixed income, and unable to get support from the child’s parents, other help may be available:

• The child may be eligible for Social Security Disablity or Supplemental Security Income  payments, because of the parent’s disability or death, or because the child is disabled.

• The child may be also eligible for payments from the State’s Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program and health coverage through MaineCare (the Maine Medicaid program), regardless of your own income.  For helpful information on applying for assistance through these  programs, go to the website for the University of Maine Center on Aging, Maine Rural Relatives as Parents Outreach Program, to make use of the program’s “tip sheets.”  http://www.umaine.edu/mainecenteronaging/mhrapp.htm

• If you need day care, the State’s child care voucher program may cover part of the cost.

Emotional support.   There are also support groups for grandparents and other relatives caring for young people.  For information, contact Maine Kids Kin:  Families & Children Together: www.mainekids-kin.org 

What you should know about the probate process. “Probate” is the process under which the assets of a deceased person are distributed.  Maine has a streamlined probate system.  In most cases, no judge is involved, unless there is disagreement between heirs, a disagreement involving creditors or if there are irregularities in the execution of the Will.  This is called “informal probate.”  Simple paperwork is submitted to the Probate Court, which is then processed by the court staff. 

Appointment of Personal Representative (executor).  The first step in the probate process is the appointment of a Personal Representative (referred to by many as the “executor”). These are the steps:

• A family member or other interested person will submit a simple probate application  to the Probate Court for the county in which the deceased lived or the county in which the deceased owned property. The application asks for information concerning the deceased, the money and property in the estate, the deceased’s family and the people named in the Will.
• If the deceased left a Will, then the original Will is also filed with the Court.
• The family member or interested person pays a filing fee, which is based on the value of the estate.  (If that person has to pay from his own pocket, he will eventually reimbursed from the deceased’s funds.) 
• A Court employee reviews the information in the application, and if there is a Will reviews it to determine whether it was properly witnessed and executed. 
• If everything is in order, the Register of Probate (a court official) issues “Letters of Authority” appointing the Personal Representative (referred to by many as the executor), who will be in charge of administering the estate.  If the deceased left a Will, then the Personal Representative named in the Will is appointed.  If there is no Will, then the next of kin is appointed. 
• This step usually takes a week to a month, depending on the Maine county in which the application is filed.

The Personal Representative’s job, step by step.  The Personal Representative is the “boss” of the estate.  Once appointed, the Personal Representative will have complete control of the deceased’s accounts and property, and can get to work.  These are the steps:

• While the Personal Representative is in complete control of the estate, he or she has a duty to do so in the interest of the beneficiaries and to keep them informed of what is going on.
• The Personal Representative first prepares an “inventory” (list) of the assets belonging to the deceased, with their values as of the date of death, and distributes the inventory to the heirs and the people named in the Will.
• The Personal Representative pays all bills as they come in.  The Personal Representative will also wait four to five months for other creditors to submit their bills and should usually not distribute assets to beneficiaries until that period is over.  (Creditors have a period of four months after the Probate Court publishes a legal notice in the newspaper concerning the opening of the estate.)
• The Personal Representative gathers and distributes personal property (furniture, dishes, jewelry, tools and the like) to the beneficiaries and will sell or dispose of items not wanted by the beneficiaries.
• If there are investments such as stocks and bonds, the Personal Representative may sell the investments.
• If there is real estate to be sold, the Personal Representative gets the property ready to sell and then lists it for sale.  If the real estate is to be distributed to beneficiaries, the Personal Representative will deed the property to the beneficiaries.    
• The Personal Representative files the deceased ’s final income tax return and may also, depending on the income to the estate, file a separate tax return for the estate.  
• An estate tax return may also be filed, depending on the size of the estate and whether there is real estate.   (Only estates of over $1 million are subject to estate tax.)
• After all bills have been paid, the Personal Representative may begin to make distributions to the beneficiaries.  The Personal Representative may distribute the estate all at once or may make distributions in installments. 
• Once the assets have been distributed, the Personal Representative prepares a final account of all income, expenses and distributions, and distributes the account to the beneficiaries.  
• Finally, the Personal Representative closes the estate by filing a sworn statement with the Probate Court.
• The Personal Representative is entitled to “reasonable compensation” for his or her services.  The amount of pay the Personal Representative gets depends on the amount of time spent, the degree of skill required by the particular activity, and any special expertise the Personal Representative has.    

Is the Judge ever involved in Probate?  If the Will was not properly executed or if there is a dispute among beneficiaries or a dispute involving creditors, the probate process may become more complicated.   Before the Personal Representative is appointed and the Will declared valid, there will have to be a hearing in front of the Probate Judge.  In rare instances, the Personal Representative may be supervised by the Court and may not be permitted to make distributions without Court approval.  In most instances, however, beneficiaries will find a way to agree without involving the Court.

Can you probate a Will without an attorney?  Some people choose to handle the probate of an estate without an attorney.   However, others find that getting the help of an attorney gives them peace of mind, knowing that the job has been done correctly, and minimizing stress after the death of a family member.

As you get older, illness or injury may make it difficult for you to make decisions, both financial and personal. If you have a family member or friend whom you trust, you may ask that person to make decisions for you when the time comes.

There is good reason to consider signing a Durable Power of Attorney:   to name a trustworthy and capable decision maker. If you become incapacitated, then your family member or friend can take care of things for you without having to go to the time and expense of asking a court to appoint him or her  Guardian and Conservator.  Signing a simple Durable Power of Attorney, with the help of a lawyer, can make things easier.

With a General (Financial) Durable Power of Attorney, you name someone as your decision maker (called your “agent” or “attorney-in-fact”) regarding your money and property. That person will have the power to withdraw money from your banks, pay your bills, or sell or rent out or mortgage your house — everything you can do, yourself.  This Power of Attorney can take effect immediately.   Or, it can be written so that it is a “Springing” Durable Power of Attorney, taking effect later, after a doctor has stated in writing that you are incapacitated.

A Health Care Power of Attorney (also called an Advance Health Care Directive) names a decision maker to make decisions about your health care, if you are too ill or incapacitated to make your own decisions. Your decision maker can decide: what hospital you go to; who your doctor will be; whether you undergo surgery; what medicines you are given; whether you get care in your own home or in a nursing home or other facility.

Your Health Care Power of Attorney/ Advance Directive may also include a Living Will declaration, which states what types of care you receive if you are in a terminal condition. If it is your wish, you can direct that life support not be given to you under these circumstances, but that comfort measures and pain relief continue.

It is important that the decision maker you choose be trustworthy. The power of attorney gives that person lot of power, to help you or to hurt you.

If you change your mind about the power of attorney, you can revoke it, or take it back, as long as you are still of sound mind. You can name someone else as the decision maker, or you can decide you want to make all your decisions yourself.