‘My father is not dead.’ My sisters plundered his home while he’s in hospital with brain seizures — how do I stop them?

Dear Moneyist,

I am my dad’s power of attorney. He was in the hospital for the entire month of November due to brain seizures. He is 82 and will soon be moved to an independent senior facility with a home health-care nurse. He was a hoarder — not like on TV, but close — so my sisters and I spent last weekend with our cousins dumping rubbish and cleaning his first floor.

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We still have to clean out his basement, garage and other rooms. My sister’s boyfriend took some items home, and my sisters told me what they wanted. My father is not dead. The don’t understand that in order to pay for his care I need to sell the house and have an estate sale. He only has an income of $2,000 a month and he still has a mortgage.

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I will spend his savings on the first three or four months of care while I start the Medicaid process. They also maintain that the items they have taken and have claimed are payment for cleaning his house. We never agreed to that. How do I stop them from taking items? And how do I make them understand that his furniture and valuables need to be sold to go to his care?

Railroaded Sister

Dear Sister,

Change the locks.

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