I am over 70. 55 yr. old nephew is going into 4 months of alcohol and mental treatment. Will be away in another state. Asked me to become his power of attorney and keep his bills paid. That is a lot responsibility and long time. What do you think?

He's placing a lot of trust in you if he wants to give you power of attorney. He also wants peace of mind when he goes into treatment that things will be taken care of during his absence.  It also depends on what kind of relationship you have with your nephew and if there would be a lot of drama involved once he hands over his finances to you.

If you haven't already, I would talk with him further about this - so you can gauge the ground. Then I would find out what bank he has. You can go talk to one of the folks there about this situation. Some banks have someone that can do this on behalf of their customers so it's worth checking on this angle should you decide you don't want to do it.

If you're the only one that can do it and this is a close family, weigh it considering your age and health. You are 70 and I am assuming you have done your time raising children or worked to retirement . . . This is one of those milestones you GET TO leave behind to enjoy your twilight years. If this is the kind of thing you enjoy doing, then have at it.

Here's the definition of Power of Attorney---the authority to act for another person in specified or all legal or financial matters.

Find out exactly what he really wants you to do---It's quite possible that the actually situation would require very little time and only minimum responsibility on your part.

Frankly, I would have preferred to give  my mother's sister rather than my mother power of attorney had I never needed to do so.

If you think it's too much then maybe help him look at different ways to sort bills out etc. You do have a right to decline. I think two people can be given power of attorney, it might help to share the load.