How to approach aunt about potentially appointing a power of attorney

elsien

it’s about control and people being scared of losing control. so I think the way to approach it would be to stress that while she is still has her marbles you cannot do anything without her consent.
And also don’t just talk about finances talk about health and welfare as well.

Not disparaging your concerns about the scammers, because they  may well be true but you need to be careful if you do get her consent for the power of attorney not to do things she doesn’t know about. While she has capacity it’s completely her decision whether you use it and what for. and if she finds out you’ve been checking stuff without that discussion and without her permission you might find the power of attorney is revoked. 

it took my mother (now 86) about 12 months from the start of the conversation to when she actually did it. She recognised the need but  part of it was not wanting to acknowledge getting older and possibly losing her faculties.

So do you also have powers of attorney for yourselves because if you do, or if you’re setting one up by yourself this also also shows it is a really sensible thing to have whatever age you are. Part of the reason I convinced my mum was because of my line of work - I was able to tell her about the number of much younger people who had strokes or  accidents and lost capacity with no notice or slow deterioration. 

 Possibly you also need to try to moderate your reactions in front of her, because if she’s not telling you stuff because she knows you will be upset that already gives no go conversation areas. She is  at the age when some people do start decluttering to make life easier for their relatives when they go and maybe that’s part of what she’s doing. 

itsthelittlethings

Maybe she needs to declutter.