I am the assigned agent to my father’s Health Care Directive. My sibling holds Power of Attorney. I happily oversee all caregiving duties. We have a private agency that provides 24/7 in-home care. Quite often we are left with caretakers that don’t come to their shifts. Each time I drop everything and fill in. (He is post-stroke and cannot be left alone.) Unfortunately, this is becoming a regular thing where I am left caretaking one or two days each week.
I asked the POA if I could be paid $15/hour for the days the caretakers don’t show and am needed to fill in. This is WELL below the hourly rate for our area.
He said absolutely not. He will not pay family for caregiving.
In a nut shell, even though I have the Health Care Directive and can legally make my dad’s caregiving plan, my sibling holds the POA and says he has the right to refuse payment of services he does not agree with.
Do I have any options for getting payment? It seems he’s overstepping his authority as I know my dad would happily pay me especially since it is half of what the agency charges. It’s so depressing.
But: any chance your father is still mentally competent (despite the stroke)? I'm guessing not. But if he is, your father can easily create a new financial POA, (1) naming you, (2) revoking all previous POAs, (3) explicitly stating that you, as POA, are allowed to get compensated (this is important, because a standard POA document normally doesn't allow for any compensation).
There is 1 more way to have your sibling removed as POA: but it's time-consuming, stressful. If you feel your sibling is abusing/neglecting your father, you can get APS involved to investigate.
I was in this situation with my twisted sissies, but I was the 24/7/365 in home caregiver. Twisteds accused me of financial exploitation, had me investigated by APS. It was at that time I retained an attorney, or course, there was absolutely no exploitation and the case closed quickly.
I then did take them to court seeking payment, which l won to a point.
Why doesn't bro step in when caregivers call out? If he were taking his fair share of caregiving responsibility, then fine. But, it doesn't sound like that is the case.