moving in with daughter

[aander3]

My mother has been accepted for A&A It took 11 months,  but she is relieved to get approval.   She was living in her home with a live in aid person for 24x7 help. She is going to have to move in with me and I will take over the full time assistance.  I am expecting she would still qualify for A&A    We have looked at several of the posts to learn what we can.  I know we need to notify the VA about this change.    The initial award was approved then with a documented payment of $30,000 plus to the hired live in help each year.   Now we will let that person go and I will be the caregiver.   What is the correct way to handle this transition?   Can we charge my mother "rent" to count as the medical expenses?    Should we be talking to an elder lawyer at this point?    She has a small pension and social security income that ends up being $14,000 per year income.

Also the award was just recently approved.  Along with the approval notice is an evr form  I expect we need to have this submitted.  It mentions the end of each year,  but no exact date is stated.  Is there a definite deadline for the submittal of the annual  evr update?

[Patty]

You can not deduct rent - you can only deduct PAID unreimbursed medical expenses.  Since your mother has been rated A&A, she may deduct family member care as long as it is PAID to the family member and documented.  The claimant is required to submit documentation of expenses 

•   when in-home attendant fees are first claimed, or
•   when the person/company providing the service changes.

So you will need to notify the VA immediately when you switch from the outside caregiver to a family member.  You need to find out what caregivers are being paid in your area and charge a little less - she is a family member after all.  You will also want to keep a record of speaking with her case manager, doctor or other licensed health care professional every month if you are not a licensed health care provider yourself.  This can be a telephone call or discussion with a VNA nurse.

Please let us know how it goes,

Patty