What is the name of your state? Florida -- Apology for the long question.
How can my sister and I establish guardianship of my dad and protect him from our brother who’s been abusing dad financially and emotionally for years? Do we need his consent? Here's the situation:
My dad is 80 y.o. living in Florida, my sis lives in NYC and I in the Midwest; and our 50 y.o. brother lives with dad (under the guise of "taking care of him") ever since mom died in 2002. Sis and I talk with dad almost every week, and each visit him at least one a year. We wish to help dad live with dignity, have independence and assistance with shopping and transportation and socializing. Even though dad tells us that he’s fed up with him, he depends on my brother for these things because he’s afraid of losing his only son and “being in an old age home”.
Dad’s an alcoholic, yet has a good deal of functioning. Nonetheless, he is becoming less able to perform activities of daily living and will increasingly need assistance with taking meds, errands and house work, and hygiene. Brother lived with mom and dad after losing his apartment a few months before mom’s death, and stayed on to live with dad. He’s been unsuccessful in trying to be self-employed; shares none of the expenses (rent, groceries, utilities); and says "putting up with dad, and cleaning and taking dad on his errands" is payment in itself for room and board and expenses. Normally, I would agree, except for what history has proven.
He has a long history of unstable/antisocial behavior but never received diagnosis or treatment (though he did serve 4 years time over twenty years ago). He’s had an on and off drug problem and mom and dad bailed him out over and over for situations and debts he incurred. He cashed checks he forged with her signature after mom died . Since her death he’s stolen money from dad’s accounts by taking his atm cards, his guitar (dad’s a musician), gift cards, and even made unauthorized transfers of money via a bank agent over the telephone which he then used dad’s (stolen) atm to withdraw. He bullies dad into bad business deals. He won’t admit to any of it until he’s caught, at which point he says he’s taken care of it because he’s paying dad back.
How can my sister and I establish guardianship of my dad and protect him from our brother who’s been abusing dad financially and emotionally for years? Do we need his consent? Here's the situation:
My dad is 80 y.o. living in Florida, my sis lives in NYC and I in the Midwest; and our 50 y.o. brother lives with dad (under the guise of "taking care of him") ever since mom died in 2002. Sis and I talk with dad almost every week, and each visit him at least one a year. We wish to help dad live with dignity, have independence and assistance with shopping and transportation and socializing. Even though dad tells us that he’s fed up with him, he depends on my brother for these things because he’s afraid of losing his only son and “being in an old age home”.
Dad’s an alcoholic, yet has a good deal of functioning. Nonetheless, he is becoming less able to perform activities of daily living and will increasingly need assistance with taking meds, errands and house work, and hygiene. Brother lived with mom and dad after losing his apartment a few months before mom’s death, and stayed on to live with dad. He’s been unsuccessful in trying to be self-employed; shares none of the expenses (rent, groceries, utilities); and says "putting up with dad, and cleaning and taking dad on his errands" is payment in itself for room and board and expenses. Normally, I would agree, except for what history has proven.
He has a long history of unstable/antisocial behavior but never received diagnosis or treatment (though he did serve 4 years time over twenty years ago). He’s had an on and off drug problem and mom and dad bailed him out over and over for situations and debts he incurred. He cashed checks he forged with her signature after mom died . Since her death he’s stolen money from dad’s accounts by taking his atm cards, his guitar (dad’s a musician), gift cards, and even made unauthorized transfers of money via a bank agent over the telephone which he then used dad’s (stolen) atm to withdraw. He bullies dad into bad business deals. He won’t admit to any of it until he’s caught, at which point he says he’s taken care of it because he’s paying dad back.