The quiet operational work of helping someone stay safe at home.
Some situations do not need a conservator. They need someone to open the mail, pay the bills on time, recognize the cognitive change two visits before the family does, and bring in the right professionals at the right moment. That work — daily money management, care coordination, dementia coordination — is most of what a steady life at home actually requires. We also take one-off consultations from families that do not yet need ongoing fiduciary involvement.
When you'd come to us for this.
- A parent living alone has missed three property-tax payments in a row, the lights got shut off once, and the family is realizing that the household needs someone reliable opening the mail every week. Daily money management is the steady, low-drama version of that role.
- A dementia diagnosis was made six months ago and the family has been improvising the response. A care coordinator can hold the moving pieces — the primary care physician, the neurologist, the home-care agency, the medication reconciliation — so the family member who has been carrying it alone does not burn out.
- The discharge from a hospitalization is in 48 hours and the family is being told their parent cannot go home alone. We coordinate the rehab placement, the home-health setup, the safe-return checklist, and the follow-up appointments — across the providers who do not naturally talk to each other.
- You are not sure you need a fiduciary at all, but you want a conversation with one. A one-hour consultation is often enough to clarify what the situation actually calls for — sometimes the answer is a fiduciary engagement, sometimes it is a referral to a different professional, sometimes it is "you are doing this right; here are the three things to watch."
What happens next.
Daily money management. Mail is collected weekly or biweekly, sorted, and acted on. Bills are paid through the principal's bank — never out of our accounts. Statements are reconciled monthly. Suspicious activity (a contractor charge nobody recognizes, a new recurring debit, a charity that has started appearing) is flagged before it becomes a pattern. Records are kept in a format the family or the next professional can read.
Care coordination. The list of who is involved — the primary care physician, the cardiologist, the neurologist, the home-care agency, the physical therapist, the geriatric pharmacist — becomes a single document with current phone numbers. Appointments are tracked. Medication reconciliation happens after each appointment, not when something has gone wrong. The family member who has been holding all of this gets a weekly summary rather than ten scattered texts.
Dementia care coordination. Same operational rhythm as care coordination, with two additions. First, the trajectory of cognitive change is tracked deliberately — what the person could do last quarter and what they cannot do this quarter. Second, the regulatory and care-system milestones (the move from independent living to assisted living, the move from assisted living to memory care, the conversation about hospice eligibility) are anticipated before they become emergencies.
Fiduciary consultation. A one-time engagement, typically one to three hours, that produces a written summary of the family's situation and a written set of recommendations. Sometimes the recommendation is "engage Continuum for ongoing work." Sometimes it is "what you have in place is correct; here is what to monitor." Sometimes it is "the right next professional is a different one — here is who and why."
What this costs.
Daily money management runs typically two to six hours per month depending on the principal's activity level and complexity. Care coordination runs typically three to ten hours per month, with spikes during transitions (a hospitalization, a move, a new diagnosis). Dementia care coordination follows the same range and is more concentrated at care-setting transitions.
Fiduciary consultation is billed at the hourly rate for the time spent, including the written follow-up document. Most consultations run two to four hours total. If the consultation leads to an ongoing engagement, the consultation hours are credited against the first month's engagement billing.
The hourly rate and the billing categories are disclosed in the engagement letter consistent with AB 1194 §6563. No monthly minimums; quiet months bill less.
Common questions.
Do you have to be the agent on a power of attorney to do daily money management?
Often, yes — banks generally require a written authorization to act on someone else's account, and a durable POA is the cleanest one. Some daily-money-management engagements work through a representative payee arrangement (for Social Security) or a limited bill-paying authorization. The right legal structure is part of the engagement-letter conversation.
Are you a care manager or a care coordinator?
The Aging Life Care Association uses the term "Aging Life Care Professional" for clinicians who do this work full-time. Our care coordination is the fiduciary-side version: we hold the operational rhythm and the records, and we coordinate with a licensed care manager when the clinical depth of a particular situation requires one. For some families, our coordination is sufficient. For others, we work alongside a separate care manager — different roles, both needed.
Can a consultation be confidential if I am not yet a client?
The initial consultation falls under the same confidentiality standards as an engaged matter, with one exception: our mandated-reporter obligation under Welfare & Institutions Code §15630 covers suspected abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation of elders and dependent adults whether you have engaged us or not. We explain this at the start of every conversation.
Not sure whether you need a care manager, a fiduciary, or both? Our guide to what a geriatric care manager is and how the role differs from a fiduciary explains what that profession does, what it costs, and where it ends and ours begins.
Consultations are by appointment and held in strict confidence.
Or call 760-33-TRUST (760-338-7878) directly.
Discretion and confidentiality are fundamental to our practice. Information submitted through this form is kept private and used solely for purposes of communication regarding potential fiduciary services.
