You asked the above question a few days back. Then you were having problems with an AL asking for rent for a room Mom never took but you signed for her. Now you want to do the same thing?
If Mom is competent, she can sign her own paperwork. Anyone else signing, other than a POA, is saying they are responsible financially. If Mom is competent, I suggest you and she see a lawyer to write up a POA assigning you. And if you do this, have it made immediate. Also, understand what a POA does and their responsibilities.
If there is NO POA or the POA was not invoked and you signed guarantor paperwork - you agreed to whatever you signed - as if you were signing FOR yourself.
When my children were under 18 and on my medical insurance - *I* was the guarantor on their medical billing accounts because they were not legally adults and therefore not legally allowed to enter into a contract as a minor. So I was accepting responsibility on their behalf. Once they turned 18 - even if I was still the one that would pay the bill- I immediately lost access (unless they provided it to me) to all of their medical information and THEY became the guarantors on their own accounts - even though they were still on my medical insurance. My insurance covered them but I was no longer LEGALLY responsible to pay the bill for them.
My FIL's POA was invoked toward the very end - and DH had to sign aanything on his behalf as "FIL's name, by DH's name, POA" (similar to how he has to do everything now as executor for the estate - it makes it clear that what he is doing is not for himself, but on behalf of his father (then) or his father's estate (now)
I had to drill into my SIL and BIL's heads to NEVER EVER sign ANYTHING period. And I was not exaggerating in your other post when I said every single rehab we ever took FlL to tried to get us to sign for him. We refused.
When we moved to the SNF - again POA was NOT invoked at the time. And they had a MOUNTAIN of paperwork to be signed. They actually tried to talk us in to invoking the POA on site - we said no - we weren't going to do that - and we couldn't anyway as his required 2 doctors to declare competency. But it was literally just to make it easier on the business office. DH sat with him while he explained what every document was and helped him sign each of them.
Business office lady was not happy but honestly HE was the one that was legally responsible for the choice and with the amount of backlash we got from him AFTER he got there - and the fact that we told him since he signed himself in, if he could manage to get himself home and take care of himself he was free to leave at any point - it was best for everyone that HE was the one that signed the paperwork (P.S. he never went home).
A legal document is a legal document. And signature on the paperwork (provided they are over the age of 18 in the US or whatever the legal age is in a specific country, and of sound mind) is a binding agreement between the signatory and the owner of the contract, unless it specifies that is on behalf of another person that you have a LEGAL (documented, invoked) right to sign for. And it should state that you are signing for them.
You need to get a lawyer if you go down this path - because they will have them and there is very little chance that the document is not binding.
Perhaps this example will help you to understand why they accept a signature on papers from anyone regarding the bills .
Say Elderly Alice is going to assisted living . Her daughter is POA since her daughter has been involved in her care .
Say Elderly Alice has very little money so her rich ( movie star ) son is going to be paying her bills . So he signed the paper work regarding bills as guarantor . He signed that he guarentees the bill is paid .
The POA daughter signed the other admission papers .
They don’t care who signs the billing form or who pays the bills . But whoever signs that form is responsible to pay the bill as described in the contract .
If you signed on a line that says Guarantor , this means you were assuming responsibility for paying the bill . They don’t care whose money it is , so long as they get paid . And the Guarantor that signed is who they will be coming to for payment if they don’t receive it .
Did they say you needed POA to sign ? If so , why would you sign it if you didn’t have POA? There is more than one paper to sign for admission ( which never happened ) . Sounds like you signed the form taking responsibility for payment .
As far as I know POA is not required to sign as Guarantor on the form regarding responsibility as far as paying the bill. All a Guarantor is signing is that they will make sure the bill is paid.
You asked practically the same question in another thread .
The other admission papers would have been signed by your mother , or her POA if she had one .
See an attorney.
You asked the above question a few days back. Then you were having problems with an AL asking for rent for a room Mom never took but you signed for her. Now you want to do the same thing?
If Mom is competent, she can sign her own paperwork. Anyone else signing, other than a POA, is saying they are responsible financially. If Mom is competent, I suggest you and she see a lawyer to write up a POA assigning you. And if you do this, have it made immediate. Also, understand what a POA does and their responsibilities.
When my children were under 18 and on my medical insurance - *I* was the guarantor on their medical billing accounts because they were not legally adults and therefore not legally allowed to enter into a contract as a minor. So I was accepting responsibility on their behalf. Once they turned 18 - even if I was still the one that would pay the bill- I immediately lost access (unless they provided it to me) to all of their medical information and THEY became the guarantors on their own accounts - even though they were still on my medical insurance. My insurance covered them but I was no longer LEGALLY responsible to pay the bill for them.
My FIL's POA was invoked toward the very end - and DH had to sign aanything on his behalf as "FIL's name, by DH's name, POA" (similar to how he has to do everything now as executor for the estate - it makes it clear that what he is doing is not for himself, but on behalf of his father (then) or his father's estate (now)
I had to drill into my SIL and BIL's heads to NEVER EVER sign ANYTHING period. And I was not exaggerating in your other post when I said every single rehab we ever took FlL to tried to get us to sign for him. We refused.
When we moved to the SNF - again POA was NOT invoked at the time. And they had a MOUNTAIN of paperwork to be signed. They actually tried to talk us in to invoking the POA on site - we said no - we weren't going to do that - and we couldn't anyway as his required 2 doctors to declare competency. But it was literally just to make it easier on the business office. DH sat with him while he explained what every document was and helped him sign each of them.
Business office lady was not happy but honestly HE was the one that was legally responsible for the choice and with the amount of backlash we got from him AFTER he got there - and the fact that we told him since he signed himself in, if he could manage to get himself home and take care of himself he was free to leave at any point - it was best for everyone that HE was the one that signed the paperwork (P.S. he never went home).
A legal document is a legal document. And signature on the paperwork (provided they are over the age of 18 in the US or whatever the legal age is in a specific country, and of sound mind) is a binding agreement between the signatory and the owner of the contract, unless it specifies that is on behalf of another person that you have a LEGAL (documented, invoked) right to sign for. And it should state that you are signing for them.
You need to get a lawyer if you go down this path - because they will have them and there is very little chance that the document is not binding.
Say Elderly Alice is going to assisted living . Her daughter is POA since her daughter has been involved in her care .
Say Elderly Alice has very little money so her rich ( movie star ) son is going to be paying her bills . So he signed the paper work regarding bills as guarantor . He signed that he guarentees the bill is paid .
The POA daughter signed the other admission papers .
They don’t care who signs the billing form or who pays the bills . But whoever signs that form is responsible to pay the bill as described in the contract .
And you cannot sign her name for her because you are not her POA.
If she is not competent then she cannot appoint you to be her POA.
So now what do they suggest?
They sign THEIR OWN name and indicate "POA for ... "
This is a critically important differentiation.
If you signed on a line that says
Guarantor , this means you were assuming responsibility for paying the bill .
They don’t care whose money it is , so long as they get paid . And the Guarantor that signed is who they will be coming to for payment if they don’t receive it .
Did they say you needed POA to sign ? If so , why would you sign it if you didn’t have POA? There is more than one paper to sign for admission ( which never happened ) . Sounds like you signed the form taking responsibility for payment .
As far as I know POA is not required to sign as Guarantor on the form regarding responsibility as far as paying the bill. All a Guarantor is signing is that they will make sure the bill is paid.
You asked practically the same question in another thread .
The other admission papers would have been signed by your mother , or her POA if she had one .