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If a parent has lost capacity and never signed a power of attorney, no family member, not even a spouse, automatically has legal authority over accounts or property in the parent's name. For medical decisions, doctors can usually work with a family proxy the family agrees on. For money, the usual routes are a conservatorship or a court order for one specific transaction. If the parent can still understand what they would be signing, a power of attorney may still be possible, and only an attorney can judge that. The attorneys can look at her situation and tell you which path fits.

In Colorado, a power of attorney is a document someone signs while they can still understand it, naming a person to handle their money or their medical decisions, and no court is involved. A guardianship is a court case that gives someone authority over personal decisions, like medical care and where a person lives. A conservatorship is a court case about money and property. The court generally has to find that less restrictive options will not work before it appoints a guardian or conservator, so which one fits depends on the facts, and that is what the attorneys are for.

Colorado allows an emergency guardian when waiting for the regular process would likely cause substantial harm to the person's health, safety or welfare and no one else has authority and is willing to act. An emergency appointment lasts no more than 60 days, and the court appoints a lawyer for the person. How fast a judge acts depends on the court and the medical evidence, so I can't promise a date. If this is urgent, tell Harlan or call the office, and the attorneys will be told it is urgent.

Probate is the court-supervised way a person's property is collected, their debts are paid, and what is left goes to the right people. The personal representative, often called the executor, gets legal authority from the court in a document called Letters. Not everything goes through probate: accounts with a named beneficiary, joint accounts with survivorship, assets in a living trust, and a house with a recorded beneficiary deed often pass outside it. For a death in 2026, Colorado lets families use a small estate affidavit instead of opening a court case if what the person owned that passes by will or by the default rules, minus what is owed on it, is $88,000 or less, at least ten days have passed since the death, and no personal representative has been appointed. The limit is set by the year of death; it was $86,000 for deaths in 2025. It cannot move real estate, so a house in the person's name usually still needs a probate case. Whether it fits depends on exactly what the person owned and how it was titled, so I can't tell anyone they qualify.

A simple estate with no disputes commonly takes about six months to a year in Colorado, because creditors get at least four months after the notice and the simplest way to close cannot come until six months after appointment or one year after death, whichever comes first. A house to sell, missing relatives, taxes or a family disagreement can stretch it past a year. The attorneys can give a realistic timeline once they know what is in the estate.

When there is no will, Colorado law sets who inherits. A surviving spouse generally takes everything when all of the person's children are also the spouse's children. In blended families the spouse gets a set amount plus a share, and the children split the rest. With no spouse, it goes to children, then parents, then brothers and sisters and their children. Blended families are where the details matter most, so please talk to the attorneys before anyone divides anything.

Health First Colorado, the state's Medicaid program, can pay for nursing home care, home and community based services and PACE for people who meet a medical test and strict financial limits. As of 2026, the countable asset limit for a single applicant is $2,000, and gross income above $2,982 a month generally calls for an income trust. Whether someone qualifies depends on the facts, so that is a question for the attorneys. Generally, the home is not counted while it is the person's main residence, the equity is under the state limit, and they intend to return home or a spouse or dependent relative lives there. After death, Colorado can make a claim against the estate to recover what it paid for long-term care, but generally not while a surviving spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child is living, and a beneficiary deed does not avoid the claim. Protecting a house is very fact specific, and I can't say what would happen with yours.

Colorado looks back 60 months at gifts and at sales for less than fair value when someone applies for long-term care Medicaid. Gifts in that window can cause a penalty period when Medicaid will not pay for care, and the penalty clock does not start until the person has applied and is otherwise eligible. There are exceptions, so please talk to the attorneys before anyone moves any money.

If Medicaid denies or cuts off an application, look at the date on the notice right away. In Colorado an appeal generally has to reach the Office of Administrative Courts within 60 days of the date on the notice, but I can't work out your deadline, and your letter states it. Deadlines in letters like that are often short, so please get the letter to the attorneys today. I'm flagging this as urgent.

Money paid straight to someone who receives SSI or disability Medicaid can cost them those benefits. Families use tools like a special needs trust, which can hold a parent's money or the person's own money under different rules, and ABLE accounts. Since January 2026, Colorado ABLE accounts are open to people whose disability began before age 46, with a $20,000 annual contribution limit for 2026. Which tool fits depends on where the money comes from and how much it is, so please talk to the attorneys before any money is paid out.

If you think someone is taking money from an older adult and anyone is in danger right now, call 911. Otherwise, report it to Adult Protective Services in the county where the person lives: Jefferson County 303-271-4673, Denver 720-944-3000, or Gilpin County 1-844-264-5437. You do not need proof, suspicion is enough. It also helps to call the bank's fraud line and save statements and messages. After that, the attorneys can talk with you about court protection.

In Colorado, a district court can appoint a Public Administrator, a private individual and not a government employee, to protect property and run an estate when no family member or named representative is able or willing to act. The law has hospitals, nursing homes, funeral homes, landlords and similar places notify the Public Administrator in certain situations. Virginia was sworn in as Public Administrator for the 1st Judicial District, which is Jefferson and Gilpin counties, in February 2014. For a referral I take the details and the attorneys take it from there.