A legal question and answer column for seniors.

DEAR SENIORS LEGAL LINE:

My best friend recently entered a nursing home. I mailed her a birthday card, but found out that the nursing home forwarded it directly to her son. My friend did not even see the card nor the $5 bill I enclosed in it. Luckily, the son is trustworthy and called me when he received the card.

He told me that he received it because the nursing home put his mailing address over my friend’s address. He brought it back to me. When I saw my friend on my next visit I personally gave her the card and the $5.

Once someone enters into a nursing home or an assisted living, don’t they have the right to receive all their mail? What if they have given someone a Power of Attorney?

Signed Francine

DEAR FRANCINE:

Your friend should be glad to have such a good friend in you, as well as a trustworthy son. Your instincts are correct. A person always has a right to receive mail, except in very limited circumstances.

What I suspect is the case in your friend’s situation is that her son is handling her bills under a Power of Attorney. Naturally, your friend probably does not want to have the stress of handling bills while she is recovering. The Power of Attorney that she granted to him probably allows him to handle her finances for her. Therefore, it would make sense that she allows the nursing home to forward business mail to the son. Unfortunately, personal mail, like the birthday card, sometimes mistakenly gets forwarded to the agent under a Power of Attorney.

A person residing in a nursing home or assisted living has the right to receive mail. What usually happens is that the US Postal Service delivers the mail to the nursing home. The nursing home then has control of the mail once it is on the premises. They then distribute the mail to the residents or to the person whom the resident gave permission to receive the mail.

Under Minnesota law, a person who shares a Power of Attorney for Financial and Property Matters with someone retains all of the authority they had before they granted the Power of Attorney. In other words, they did not give up any of their own authority to act. Therefore, in my opinion, if a resident wants to receive his or her mail, the nursing home must give it to them. Probably the only scenario in which mail could be forwarded against a resident’s wishes would be if the resident were under a guardianship or conservatorship.

In most cases, however, I would say that all nursing homes and assisted living facilities work hard to get personal mail to the residents. To help insure that personal mail, such as birthday cards, gets to the resident, it may help to mark the envelope in bold letters “personal and confidential.” This should alert the nursing home staff that it is not a business mailing and should not be delivered to anyone other than the resident.

It always makes sense to track the mail you send out to make sure it was delivered to the intended recipient. In this case, your friend’s son called you and returned the card and cash to you. Because there is always a chance that mail may go to an unintended location, I suggest that you do not send cash. I realize that your friend may not be able to cash a check while she is in the nursing home. Perhaps it is best to give such gifts in person, as you have done.

If you or your friend have further concerns about mail in the future, you may contact the US Postal Service Postal Investigator at 651-293-3200. For rights of a nursing home or assisted living resident, you may also wish to contact the Ombudsman for Older Minnesotans toll free at 1-800-657-3591.

This column is written by the Senior Citizens’ Law Project. It is not meant to give complete answers to individual questions. If you are 60 years of age or older and live within the Minnesota Arrowhead Region, you may contact us for legal help or questions by writing to: Dale W. Lucas, c/o Senior Citizens’ Law Project, Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota, 302 Ordean Bldg., Duluth, MN 55802. Please include a phone number and return address.