Seniors: ‘Mom is in the ICU, I Need a Power of Attorney’

Q:“Mom suffered a stroke and is in the hospital in ICU. I do not have signing power on her bank accounts and I need to pay her bills. I am told that I need a Power of Attorney so that I can take care of her finances. Can you help?”

By Gene L. Osofsky, Esq. SPECIAL TO THE FORUM

We frequently receive frantic calls like the above, and it saddens me that I usually have to advise the caller that it may now be too late. A Power of Attorney is a legal document and can only be signed when the signer, also called the principal, has legal capacity. If the principal is delirious, in a coma, or otherwise mentally incapacitated, he or she does not have the required capacity to sign a power of attorney or, indeed, any other legal document. This advice often comes as a surprise to the well-intentioned family member who hopes to help a loved one manage his or her affairs. In cases like this, I find myself wishing that the caller had contacted us sooner, before the crisis, so that we could have prepared the necessary documents to deal with just this problem. Incapacity, especially if brought on suddenly by an injury, stroke or other acute event, can strike without warning, and is especially problematic for seniors in declining health. Incapacity can also be a gradual process, brought on by declining memory, dementia or other mental problems.

Senior Scam Prevention

Seniors lose billions of dollars every year to scams. Learn how to avoid getting reeled in by scams aimed at seniors at this FREE presentation by Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP) of Legal Assistance for Seniors. Join us for this FREE informational program at the Castro Valley Library (3600 Norbridge Avenue) on

Thursday, July 6, from 11 am 12 noon. No registration is required. Topics that will be covered include: Common scams and frauds that target seniors; Practical tips on how to recognize scams and protect yourself; Resources and more. For more information, call the Library at 510-667-7900, or see Events at www.aclibrary. org/branches/csv.

Keep in mind that signing a Durable Power of Attorney (“DPOA”) does not necessarily mean that the signer instantly gives up control over his financial affairs. Indeed, the DPOA can be a “springing power”, which means that it only becomes effective when, for example, a physician certifies in writing that the principal no longer has capacity to manage his or her affairs. It can also provide that the principal’s power to manage his own affairs is restored if he later regains capacity. Further, a DPOA can be a comprehensive legal document which delegates to a trusted agent authority to do almost everything that the principal could do on his own, or it can be a limited power which authorizes the agent to handle only certain types of transactions, such as the payment of bills from a specific checking account.

It is a common misconception that powers of attorney are all alike. They are not. Indeed, a DPOA can be as broad, or as limited, as the need and comfort of the principal requires. By way of example, it can authorize the creation or modification of Living Trusts, the purchase or modification of insurance policies, the making of gifts to loved ones, and/or Medi-Cal planning for long-term care. The important point, however, is to take steps to create one which meets your needs before a crisis strikes and while you are in full possession of your faculties. In that way, it can serve you and your loved ones well in the event of future need, and likely avoid the need for a court-supervised, and often expensive, conservatorship proceeding.

Gene L. Osofsky is an elder law and estate planning attorney who has been helping East Bay families for over 30 years. Visit: LawyerForSeniors.com

Cobblers: They Will Save Your Sole

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Then-Assemblyman Bill Quirk recognized them as his district’s Small Business of the Year in 2018. The award recognized, along with the shoe store itself, its sponsorship of The Cobblers Car Show in Hayward for years. This was halted only by the pandemic but has been held only once since in the absence of its longtime organizer, Rudy said.

They saw a business drop during the pandemic when they cut down to being open half-days but kept everybody working and kept most of their customers.

“Our main business today is work shoes, both sales and repairs,” Rudy says.

The repair area at the front of the store keeps busy, and there’s a steady stream of customers dropping off shoes to be repaired and picking them up afterward. Each shoe has its own repair record, the elder Grasseschi said.

Rudy said that fewer people get regular shoes repaired these days.

“They buy them cheap, often on the Internet, and then just throw them out,” he said. “But when someone pays $200 or $300 for work shoes, they’ll repair those.”

Making Mountains Out of Mole Hills - A Lesson from Leaf Curl

By Kevin Koo SPECIAL TO THE FORUM

First off, thank you to Dennis for reaching out and sharing about bamboo with me. I love hearing from readers, so when I say I want to hear from you, I mean it. Today we’re finishing the series with my inspirations from nature by looking at something very near and dear to my heart, leaf curl. Actually, that’s not true. It’s the peaches on the peach tree at our previous house. The leaf curl was the thing that destroyed the thing that’s near and dear to my heart.

When I first moved in with my girlfriend, now wife, I got to eat some delicious peaches from the peach tree. The following year, I noticed the leaves were looking weird, and the resulting fruit was odd too. Since I knew nothing about peach trees, I thought it was done for. I got desperate, and I did what any logical adult would do… ask for help on

Facebook. It was actually quite helpful, and friends told me it was leaf curl, which could be remedied with a simple spray. It was a little too late to save the fruit and tree for this season, but I could save it for next season.

I was surprised at the solution and the resulting impact. In my mind, I was already imagining a dead tree, but learning that all I needed was a simple spray, and things could return to normal blew my mind.

Now, anyone who might have a green thumb probably already knew that, and you’re probably questioning my intelligence right now. You have every right to do that, but the realization I had after this realization was this: we imagine the worst-case scenarios for situations where we lack information that probably have very simple answers.

I recently met with a new client. He has a very successful and profitable business, but his home life wasn’t as stable. He felt like his partner didn’t appreciate all that he did and kept asking for his time and attention, even though his business required virtually all of him. It was serious enough that he was considering other living options or lifestyle choices… that’s probably the most politically correct way to say that. He hadn’t done anything, but in his frustration, he had rattled off some thoughts that seemed far from ideal.

After getting all of his frustrations out, which is very important when working through issues like this, I shared some relationship frameworks and general coaching concepts I share with all of my clients. In the end, he realized there was a disconnect in their relationship, as well as a lack of perspective taking. He didn’t realize what she wants and needs were, and see KOO on back page