I will be traveling to the Sacremento area next week to visit my mother. Does anyone have experience/recommendation for setting up a power of attorney and simple wills?
I have asked her for years to set this up if she was to continue to live out there but, she would always agree then not do it. She has been in declining health the last 5 years and stays in this self imposed exile for the good health care she receives after retiring from the state. She has a laundry list of health issues.
The other day she fell in her house and was on the floor a couple days before a neighbor with a key found her. She is recovering in the hospital and will be moved to a rehab facility by the time I get there. COVID mandates are making this more difficult as well.

PoA & a Will are just a couple of the legal docs that hopefully your mother will agree to.

Unless the laws have changed, having your mother's Power of Attorney only applies while your mother is still alive. There may even be different levels of PoA such as financial only, medical only and the full PoA.

Speaking of medical, there are medical related forms that are all encompassing or only applicable to a specific care facility. There may come a time where your mother is unable to make decisions regarding her medical care, so it is wise to have those documents signed and in place. These were the hardest to talk to my late mother about. She just didn't want to talk about her death and my brother & I making her healthcare decisions for her once she no longer could. DNR, Do Not Resuscitate, was the toughest one.

You mentioned a Will. May I suggest that you look into, and strongly consider, a Revocable Trust instead. I apologize if this sounds rather sterile, but typically if a person has a Trust, there are better tax consequences and more asset flexibility than a will. So both a Will and a Trust have to do with the survivors. Yet another reason why people will not discuss them.

The biggest advantage is that once a person passes away and the PoA immediately becomes null, the person(s) who have been designated as Surviving Trustees now have the legal right to make decisions regarding the deceased and their property. Trusts are so much better when settling an estate. You have not mentioned any surviving current or ex spouses or other family members. I won't go there other than to say that my mother's trust saved my brother and I some big headaches from other family members.

Google "Revocable Trust explained" to get started. Avoiding Probate is a biggie.

I am sorry that your mother is going through all these health problems. My mother struggled with leukemia & the onset of dementia her last couple of years and having her legal affairs in order allowed us to more fully focus on her.

I wish your mother and you the best.

Holy crap sorry to hear about your mom and the situation. Good luck

Sorry to hear about your mom, I hope she heals quickly.

POA is easy, as long as she agrees with it. As for the Revocable Trust, I recommend getting a lawyer involved or seek the advice of a Fiduciary. I have recently gone through, and am still dealing with, a trust that was sit up wrong, it a pain in the ass. You don't want to be the one filling all the documents to the appropriate companies to change the name to the Trust.

Other things to think about:
Set up a bank account in the name of the Trust, with you on it as well. If you are not on her other bank accounts, get that done ASAP.
All life insurance policies/401 K/ retirement accounts/ Etc, will need to be changed to the Trust as beneficiary (ask me how I know this) if not you are in for a long battle and lots of paper work.
Do a quick claim deed on all her properties.
Get a health directive, and file it with her doctors and hospitals and care facilities.

There are a million little other things as well.

Better include a competent CPA in this because have a trust as beneficiary of certain investment vehicles creates a huge issue. This is a multi layered issue where an attorney will say everything into the trust and an tax professional will say not so fast.

I'm dealing with annuities that had trust named as beneficiaries, tax and distribution PIA. Much better to have the individuals named if the # of people is few... Paperwork in any of the situations sucks donkey balls after the person passes.

Get a pour over will that places all personal property in the trust. Probate is a PIA as well. The trust will avoid this. Beneficiaries of accounts etc, don't generally have to deal with probate.

Its probably too late, but you really need to set an appointment with a Lawyer that deals with this stuff before you arrive. I suggest you get everything done all at once. This is not a one time, 10 minute visit. Having names to appoint to the positions is very important, you are better off to have separate people serve in the different functions, and you need all their information. You also need to be sure they want the responsibility and are people you can trust.

For us, the process involved 3 separate visits with the Lawyer.
The 1st was to determine what we wanted in the paper work.
The 2nd was after the lawyer had written everything up to be sure it was the way we wanted.
The 3rd was with the completed documents to be sure they were correct. If corrections would have been required in either the 2nd or the 3rd visit, a 4th visit would have been necessary to be sure the finished documents were correct.
The whole process was spread over about 3 months time, and we were less then a mile from the Lawyer. The cost here was just over $1,000, 2 years ago. Gene

I don't disagree with any of the above, but the OP should nevertheless for the time being proceed with the durable POA asap, while she is of sound mind.
All the rest can be later after you have done your homework and made needed decisions.
Is there a significant estate and other hiers in this situation?
Hope your Mom recovers, and you can assist in making the best of her quality of life issues.

Thanks everyone for your well wishes and responces!

Yea, I'm an only child so her mentality is "everything goes to you" and I'm sure any beneficiary named on life insurance, investments, etc, I'm it. But, she doesn't understand or acknowledge that when she passes I can't just "take over" her stuff at that point. She doesn't discuss her finances which I'm sure by now is a wreck and she insists my name is on the deed to the house she owns. Dunno, sounds like a mess.

I hope this is the case. As poorboy mentioned, i'm sure there will be a few visits to a lawyer that I would have to make time for, but it's hard from 3k miles away. Other than a modest home, car, and life insurance, she really doesn't have much so what she has won't make or break me.