What kind of attorney do I need and how do I get him/her?

You can get advice here: http://servicesarticles.com/Ask-a-Lawyer.html it's free to do. You shoot off your case and lawyers might choose to take it or not and quote you a price, then you choose who you go with.If you don't go ahead you still get the legal advice for free.

Good luck

RE:

What kind of attorney do I need and how do I get him/her?

I live in Michigan and my 94 year old dad lives in Arkansas. He is in a nursing home and is bedridden and noncommunicating after a massive stroke. I have power of attorney over his health and finances. He owns 2 homes and has 2 bank accounts with considerable balances. I need an attorney to help me understand how to protect his assets. Any suggestions on picking an attorney in this situation would be helpful.

Protect them from what? You have power of attorney- do what you want. My brother did this, and paid for my mother's care out of her account with no trouble. The houses will be a little more complicated, but a real estate agent can probably tell you what to do if you want to sell them now, before he dies. Or get an attorney who works with probate. You're going to need that eventually anyway.

Realistically, at age 94 and after a massive stroke, your dad will not be coming home again. (I just watched the Diving Bell and the Butterfly.) If you have power of attorney, you can initiate the sale of the homes as long as he's still alive. If he dies, the estate goes into probate and that will cost 'ya thousand of dollars in attorney fees. You may just want to spend $300 for an hour of an estate attorney's time to talk that through, but that should cover it.

You should contact your dad's lawyer and make sure the will is up to date.

I assume that when you say "protect his assets" your talking about estate planning. My guess would be that this has already been done. If the lawyer thought that your dad needed some kind of fancy trust or some way to avoid taxes or avoid the nursing home, then I'm sure the lawyer would have done that when the will was done.

Note. If there's not a will, then yes, you need to do that right away.

Thanks all I have power of attorney and I am executor of the will. My fear is that somehow the nursing home expenses will eat up the money in the accounts and then go after the property. I was told that if the bank accounts are liquidated and the houses are left in his name, they nursing home can claim the houses as payment. Is this true?

yellow pages for attorneys. Theyll say if they do power of attorney cases