Now I Had the Authority… But Did I Know What I Was Doing?

Eventually, the court process was complete.

I had the legal authority to help make financial decisions for Grandpa.

And I remember thinking:

Finally. Now things will get easier.

That thought was adorable.

Because having the authority to make decisions and knowing which decisions are the right ones are two very different things.

Now I could finally see the bigger financial picture.

And whew.

There were past-due utility bills.

Properties that had been neglected.

Vehicles.

Insurance.

A business.

Collection notices.

Foreclosure concerns.

Repossessions.

On paper, Grandpa looked like someone who had resources.

He had property.

He had vehicles.

He had assets.

But those things were not paying the utility bill sitting on the kitchen table.

That was one of my first lessons:

You can look wealthy on paper and still be broke on Tuesday.

So my first goal became very simple.

Keep the lights on.

Keep the house functioning.

Keep Grandpa safe.

Then deal with whatever financial fire started next.

And yes, there were several.

At one point I felt like I should have been issued a fire extinguisher with my conservatorship paperwork.

That was when we reached out to Silver Key Senior Services.

They had a program that could help older adults with past-due utility bills, and we needed that help while I tried to figure out the bigger financial picture.

That taught me something I had never fully appreciated before:

Assets do not automatically equal accessible money.

A house does not pay the electric bill just because it exists.

A vehicle does not magically become cash because you need groceries.

And having a business does not mean there is money available when you need it.

So we handled the immediate needs first.

And then came the homes.

Some had been forgotten about.

Some needed repairs.

Some were behind financially.

And suddenly, I was responsible for deciding what to do with them.

I had never been a contractor.

I had never been a real estate agent.

I had never been a banker.

I had never been a loan officer.

But apparently none of that mattered.

Because caregiving said:

Congratulations. You are all of those things now.

Contractor in the morning.

Banker by lunch.

Real estate analyst in the afternoon.

Crisis manager by dinner.

And probably crying in the car somewhere in between.

The questions came fast.

Do we repair the home?

How much do we spend?

Will repairs increase the value enough to make sense?

Should we sell it as-is?

Can we refinance?

Is there equity?

Is there debt?

Should we keep it?

Should we sell it?

Should I just lie on the floor for twenty minutes and pretend none of this exists?

That option never made it onto the official care plan, but it crossed my mind.

The hardest part was not just making decisions.

It was knowing the money was not mine.

I wanted to protect what Grandpa had worked for.

I wanted to avoid losing property unnecessarily.

I wanted to make decisions that would help him now and not create bigger problems later.

And underneath every choice was the same question:

What if I get this wrong?

What if I sell something I should have kept?

What if I repair something that was not worth repairing?

What if I wait too long?

What if I act too fast?

That is a heavy responsibility.

But looking back, I also realize I did not know how many options existed.

There are investors who buy homes as-is.

There are contractors who can tell you what really needs to be fixed.

There are real estate professionals familiar with distressed properties.

There are people who can help explain whether to repair, sell, hold, refinance, or leave something alone for the moment.

I did not know that then.

So naturally, I decided to learn every profession myself.

Because apparently one unpaid caregiving job was not enough.

Thank God for friends.

Friends who answered calls.

Friends who knew someone who knew someone.

Friends who helped explain repairs.

Friends who gave me names.

Friends who talked me through decisions without making me feel ridiculous for not already knowing the answer.

Those people mattered more than they probably realized.

This part of caregiving taught me another lesson:

Having authority does not mean you have to become an expert in everything.

You are allowed to ask questions.

You are allowed to get second opinions.

You are allowed to say:

“I have absolutely no idea what I am doing here. Who does?”

That sentence would have saved me a lot of stress.

One Resource We Used

Silver Key Senior Services

1625 S. Murray Blvd.Colorado Springs, CO 80916719-884-2300 silverkey.org

We used Silver Key when immediate needs, including past-due utilities, had to be addressed while we worked through the larger financial picture.

Sometimes the first financial plan is not fixing everything.

Sometimes it is simply:

Keep the lights on today.

Tomorrow, we can deal with the foreclosure notice, the broken house, the vehicle, the insurance, and whatever new profession caregiving decides I need to learn next.