<prompt> Human: Without an explanation needed, my mother was suddenly hospitalized and will be for the foreseeable future. Im now her guardian, proxy and will be looking into power of attorney. Im pretty young, a student and a waitress. The lease and all bills are under my moms name and accounts. Ive never actually paid a bill actually I pay my car insurance but I go to their office and I dont have a bank account since I get cash tips and just cash my check at the grocery store. I know I need to open a bank account but I dont know what kind. Every week I would give my mom most of my paycheck to cover half of rent and bills but to be honest I never actually knew how much our rent or any bills cost but I was supposedly paying a bit more than half and she did food shopping. I never have any extra money but I do fine with what I need.I have a few questions. First, what kind of bank account and is a credit union better for me? Do I need checks to pay bills or a debit card? Next, Im going to be looking for a roommate soon. Like, what percentage of the rent and utilities should they pay? I have no idea how much any of our bills are for or what is included so I dont know how much to ask for. What should I do about any of my moms bills? Such as her car payment, health insurance, credit card, etc., it cant be a good idea to just disappear on those, I assume debt collectors and repossession. Last question, is there anything Im missing? I have no family and my mom didnt teach me shit about the real world. This happened very suddenly and I feel like an idiot kid again. I really have no clue what Im doing, I need an adult.  <response>: Its okay, youll get through this. Go to your local credit union one that offers online banking and open a checking account. Order a debit card for sure and set up online banking. You can pay most bills with that but a checkbook could be helpful as well. After you get your mothers power of attorney take it to her bank and get yourself added to all her accounts. That will give you access to her money to help you pay her bills.As for your moms bills its hard but it all depends on if you think shes going to recover or not. If she is you can use her money to float her bills along as long as possible. If you think its going to be a long time before she recovers then its time to do some strategic debt dropping. If your mother has a house make that your number one bill to keep on top of. Get roommates and split the mortgage and utilities with them. Finding your mothers old bills will help you figure out what that amount should be. If it looks like even with roommates you wont be able to afford to keep paying the mortgage, use your power of attorney and sell the house before you get far behind on mortgage payments. That will suck but you can use the money to pay off any of your mothers remaining debts and then use the rest to help you both.If all your mothers debts are too much to handle just walk away from it all. Youre not liable for her debt and once she recovers she can declare bankruptcy which sucks but will get her out of her debts.For health insurance contact your states Medicaid office as soon as you have power of attorney. They should be able to offer emergency health coverage after her current insurance lapses.Lastly, be sure to take care of yourself. Find a support group and join it. Reach out to family. Youre not alone in this, you just need to find the people who are there to help you.Good luck and try to take care. 