My elderly father was hospitalized this week partly due to delirium--was making no sense and seemed very confused. He took care of all the bills and finances of the household (him and my mom). My father is now in a skilled nursing facility and is expected to recover physically, but we still don't know about his brain.
My mother is left with all the bills and has never, in 50+ years of marriage, paid a single bill. It is now evident that my father was not in his right mind for the last month (went downhill VERY quickly) and we are trying to piece together which bills were paid last month and which ones weren't!
Anyway, they live in a retirement community and my mom had to pay the rent for the first time ever, but is not sure how much is in the account (like many people her age, she is afraid of the big scary internet, so can't check balance online!). I have never bounced a check in my entire life, and I'm fairly certain my parents haven't either, so this is uncharted territory for us.
So, what is the best course at this point if we are unsure about funds to cover the check??
1.) Do I contact the manager (don't totally trust this guy!) of the retirement community and tell him if the check bounces I will cover it on a cc?
2.) Do I wait for the check to bounce (if it does) and then deal with it?
AND, if I give this guy some other form of payment, how do I know he won't cash the bounced check at a later date? What happens to the actual check when it bounces? Will my mom get it back?
My main concern here is that the manager will screw them/us over and get paid twice for one month's rent. I actually doubt he would do that, but I don't totally trust him and want to protect myself!
Do you have any other advice on taking over my parent's finances, accessing their accounts, etc? I do not have power of attorney yet.
Thanks for your help.