My terminally ill mother (68) keeps giving her money away to a boyfriend she never met IRL from another country. What can we do to stop her?

My (30s) mother (68F) was diagnosed a few years ago with cancer. It recently came back and the doctors say it's incurable, inoperable, and they're unsure of how long she has left.

She "met" this person online about five years ago. We knew she was talking to him but didn't pay it any mind because we didn't realize how serious she was taking it. She has a lot of online friends so I assumed they were simply talking.

In the middle of her chemo treatment in 2020 I discovered by looking at her bank statements (I was paying her bills for her while she was hospitalized) that she was giving this guy money. She later admitted to giving him thousands and claiming they're getting married.

We eventually convinced her to stop doing it. A family member looked this person up online and the identity he gave my mother didn't exactly match what our relative found. But I found out recently that they started talking again a few months ago and that she started giving him money again.

She barely has money to begin with, she's on a fixed income. Some months she'd be over drafted and I'd have to spend hundreds of dollars buying her medication that she would have been able to afford on her own otherwise. He's aware that she's sick yet he continues to take money from her.

She's now saying they're getting married and that she wants to put everything in his name and allow him to collect her SSI once she passes. Their marriage would also give him US citizenship. She's claiming he's coming here and selling all his things in Argentina to do so.

I looked him up online and found him selling artwork for hundreds of dollars, sometimes over a thousand (he's apparently an artist). I've also found him featured in various museum exhibitions, one of them being in Italy. I have a bachelor's in design, so I understand the art world and know that a struggling artist wouldn't be presented like he is. I don't understand why else he'd require my mother's money unless he's a liar and deliberately taking her funds.

I'm worried he's simply playing her and waiting for her to pass to take everything and run. I understand that I won't receive any of my mother's money once she passes. I don't care for that. However, I don't want this man living the rest of his days off of my mother's funds, either. I'd like her to at least pass away with some dignity, not being swindled. But she refuses to listen to us. She has also never met this person but they talk on the phone and he's asked her to FaceTime previously

I'd like to file for power of attorney for my mom but I don't think a judge would grant it. She's lucid and in sound mind. It's simply that she's making egregious errors but I doubt a judge would grant power of attorney for something like that. How could I confront this problem?

tl;dr: mom has terminal cancer and has been giving money to an online boyfriend from another country whom she never met in person. Plans to marry him and put everything in his name so he can claim her SSI after her death. What can I do to stop her from making this enormous mistake and understand that she's being tricked?

Submitted November 02, 2022 at 09:58AM by 56_5462602 https://ift.tt/p9TEm1X