Complete List of Things to Do for Elderly Parents

As an adult child, taking care of aging parents can be overwhelming, especially if you don't know what to do or where to start. You may struggle to manage your parents' finances, medical care, legal matters, and safety.

In these situations, having an elder care checklist can help you stay organized and ensure your parents receive the best care possible.

In this article, we will provide you with a comprehensive senior care checklist covering what you need to do to care for aging parents.

Key Takeaways

Ensure timely and affordable care by obtaining bank statements, tax returns, medical history, durable power of attorney or healthcare proxies, and living wills.
Identify potential safety risks by assessing the home environment, investing in monitoring technology, and encouraging exercise and medication management. Have emergency phone numbers in place.
Set up a caregiving plan and consider using shared caregiving apps to coordinate family schedules and divide caregiving tasks. You may want to hire a caregiver if round-the-clock care is needed.

Gather Your Parents' Documents

Obtain Financial Information

Having your parents' financial information is crucial to getting timely and affordable care. Seniors applying for certain benefits must demonstrate their financial needs and provide comprehensive documentation of their past and present finances.

One example is Medicaid. Medicaid is a federal and state program that provides healthcare coverage for people with limited resources.

To qualify for Medicaid, seniors must demonstrate their income and assets fall below a monthly threshold that varies by state. Your parents must provide comprehensive documentation of their past and present finances, including bank statements and tax returns. Failure to provide this documentation could result in the denial of benefits or delays in processing their application.

To avoid situations like this, your parents may need your help collecting the following important financial documents:

List of all bank accounts. Contact each bank or financial institution where your parents hold an account and request copies of statements for each account.
Pension documents, 401(k) information, and annuity contracts. Contact each organization where your parents hold a retirement account or annuity and request copies of the account documents.
Tax returns. Contact the Internal Revenue Service and request copies of your parents’ tax returns for the past several years.
Savings bonds, stock certificates, or brokerage accounts. Contact each organization where your loved ones hold investments and request copies of the account documents.
Business partnership and corporate operating agreements. Contact the organization where your parents have a business partnership or corporate interest and request copies of the agreements.
Deeds to all real property. Contact the county or city recorder's office where your loved ones own property and request copies of the deeds.
Vehicle titles. Contact the motor vehicles department in your parents’ state and request copies of the vehicle titles.
Documentation of loans and debts, including all credit accounts. Contact each creditor and request copies of loan and debt documents.

Your next challenge is keeping track of all of that information once you've collected it. One option to consider is using super-secure digital storage like what Trustworthy offers.

Collect Healthcare Documents

Regardless of your parents' current health status, they should state their healthcare preferences in a living will and healthcare proxy.

These advance directives can make sure their wishes and care instructions regarding life support, organ donation, and other medical issues are followed in the event of their incapacity.

When taking an older parent to a hospital, you need to have documented proof establishing yourself as their decision maker, such as through their durable power of attorney or advance directives:

Adurable power of attorney is a legal document in which an adult designates someone, usually a family member or friend, to make decisions on their behalf if they cannot make decisions for themselves.
Anadvance directive is a document that outlines your parents' healthcare wishes and instructions in the event they become unable to make medical decisions for themselves.

To get these documents, you should speak with your parents about their wishes and find out if they have completed the necessary legal forms.

You may need to contact an attorney to help draft the documents or speak with your parents' current attorney to see if they already have them on file.

Having access to your parents' medical history can also be lifesaving during a medical emergency.

Your parents' medical history can provide critical information about their health status, past medical conditions, and current medications. This information can be helpful during a medical emergency, when time is of the essence and healthcare providers need to make quick, informed decisions about a parent's care.

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Simplify late-life planning with Trustworthy’s award-winning software and expert advisors.

Explore how Trustworthy works

Simplify late-life planning with Trustworthy’s award-winning software and expert advisors.

To get your parents' medical history, you can request their medical records from their healthcare providers, including their primary care doctor, specialists, and hospitals.

To access your parents' medical records, you will typically need to provide authorization or written consent from your parents because medical records are considered private and confidential under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Your parents' healthcare provider will have a process for requesting medical records, which may involve filling out a form or providing a written request. In some cases, you may need to prove you are authorized to access your parents' medical records, such as through a durable power of attorney or healthcare proxy.

There may also be fees associated with obtaining copies of your parent's medical records. Healthcare providers can charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of copying and mailing the records.

Additionally, medical records are necessary for applying for benefits, including veterans' assistance and Medicaid, and when moving to a senior living community.

Make sure to have these records available:

Healthcare proxies or power of attorney. Contact your parents’ attorney or hire an attorney to draft the documents.
Authorization to release healthcare information. Ask your parents' healthcare providers for a release form, and make sure your parents sign and date it.
Living will (healthcare directive). Hire an elder-law attorney to draft the document.
Portable medical order, also known as POLST, for seriously ill or frail seniors. It's obtainable through your parents’ healthcare providers.
Personal medical records. Make a request to your parents’ healthcare providers, with authorization from your parents to access their medical records.
Emergency information plan. Create a plan that includes emergency contact information for your parents' healthcare providers and a list of medications they take.

Obtain Estate Planning Documents

Check whether your elderly parents have up-to-date and easily accessible end-of-life and estate planning documents. Without these documents, your family can be thrown into unnecessary legal and financial chaos during an already difficult time.

Here are some essential end-of-life and estate planning documents to keep track of:

Last will and testament. This document outlines a loved one's wishes about the distribution of their assets after they die.
Trust documents. Living trusts allow a parent to place their assets within the trust.
Life insurance policies. Keep track of any life insurance policies your parents have, as these can provide financial support for their beneficiaries in the future.

If your parents haven't prepared these documents yet, you may need to help draft them, or contact an attorney or the insurance company to help with the process.

Related:Estate Planning for Elderly Parents

Gather Other Documents

There are also other miscellaneous documents you'll need to manage your elderly parents' affairs.

Here's how to obtain some of the most important documents:

Marriage certificates. To obtain a marriage certificate, you must contact the office of vital records in the state or county where the marriage occurred, provide identification, and pay a fee.
Military records. You can request military records from the National Archives and Records Administration online, by mail, or by fax.
Birth certificate. To obtain a birth certificate, contact the office of vital records in the state or county where the parent was born. You may need to provide identification and pay a fee.
Driver's license. To obtain a driver's license, your parent must visit a local department of motor vehicles office and provide identification and proof of residency.
Passport. To obtain a passport, your loved one must complete an application and provide a driver's license or birth certificate. They also need to provide a passport photo and pay a fee.
Guardianship/conservatorship forms. These documents may be obtained from the court where the guardianship or conservatorship was established.

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