My Po' Canook Story (parent, relative)

[Chip_Vanilla]

Well, here's the anecdote in a nutshell: My elderly uncle and his wife moved to Canada years ago, buying a condo there. She recently died and he apparently weirded-out and somebody referred him to their welfare agency, which may have taken him into custody (they didn't tell me anything about where he is or how he's doing) because my other nearby relatives called them and they implied that he was in some kind of institution or at minimum a care-giving situation at home. The Canook officials only sent me a long form asking for all the details of his finances, income, savings, etc. and whether he has a will; I obviously know none of these facts but I feel like they may be planning to confiscate and sell-off his assets when he dies. Maybe that's fair since they're "taking care" of him now but is it, really? What would you do?

[cdnirene]

Chip - What province in Canada is your uncle located in?

[Chip_Vanilla]

It's B C .

[cdnirene]

That's not my province, but I did some quick searches:

Scroll down quite far on this page:
Wills and Estates - Court Services - Ministry of Justice
Until you reach

About Estates . . .

If there is no will, or the will is deemed invalid under B.C. law, who shares in the estate?

And read what it says. You'll see that the province can't take your uncle's assets.

Also look at this page which describes the role of the province's Public Guardian who may or may not get involved if your uncle is deemed incompetent and there is no one to handle his financial affairs: Public Guardian and Trustee of British Columbia

As far as questions as to income, that is relevent in determining how much your uncle will be charged for nursing home care, or for prescriptions if he is not in a nursing home, etc. I don't think they ever charge more for nursing home care than a person receives in income (at least it works that way in my province).

I don't believe the provincial health department can simply ask the Canada Revenue Agency (equivalent to your IRS) for you uncle's last tax return. I assume your uncle's financial records are stored in his condo though.

[Chip_Vanilla]

Thanks a million (in Canadian dollars)!