Taking care of someone with dementia is tough for many families every year. If you’re looking after them, it’s really important to know how dementia changes their ability to make legal decisions. This helps make sure their wishes are respected and that you’re giving them the best care possible.
In this blog, we’ll explore the importance of estate planning, even after a dementia diagnosis, as the best method to ensure the wishes and rights of your loved one are protected.
Understanding Incapacity
Dementia slowly affects memory, thinking, and daily life. As it progresses, your loved one might struggle to make important decisions about money, health, and their overall well-being.
When dementia makes it hard for someone to understand things and decide, they’re seen as unable to make their own healthcare or financial choices. This change can be overwhelming for your loved one and your family. Without planning, it might need legal steps through the court.
But here’s the upside: Planning ahead can ensure your loved one is looked after by trusted people if they can’t care for themselves. Even after a dementia diagnosis, they can still make a legal plan in the early stages of the disease.
Estate Planning In The Early Stages of Dementia
It’s crucial for all adults to have legal papers that protect their rights and choices. This holds true for someone with dementia too. To make a legal document, you must be mentally aware – knowing what you’re doing and the outcomes of your decisions.
Luckily, you don’t need to be constantly in that state to create an estate plan. If your loved one is mentally aware when they sign the papers, the documents stay valid, even if they later become unable to make decisions.
In the early stages of dementia, and ideally long before any health problems surface, your loved one should create (or review and update) the following estate planning documents:
General Durable Power of Attorney
A General Durable Power of Attorney (POA) lets your loved one choose someone to handle their money and legal matters. The person they pick can write checks, pay bills, look after their home, and manage their money.
As dementia gets worse, this document becomes really important. It’s a good idea for your loved one to choose someone they trust as their financial Power of Attorney while they can still make that choice.
A Revocable Living Trust
A General Durable Power of Attorney is really important, but some banks may limit its use or not accept it at all. To fully protect your loved one’s financial wishes, it’s wise to set up a Revocable Living Trust and transfer their assets into the Trust’s name. Just making the Trust document isn’t enough; assets must be retitled, and beneficiaries updated to ensure everything is covered by the Trust. This helps the named Successor Trustee step in smoothly when needed.
When creating the Trust, your loved one picks a person to manage their assets when they can’t. This person, the Trustee or Successor Trustee, might be the same as the Power of Attorney, but not always.
Deciding who does what and when your loved one hands over control of their assets is part of our advice. If there’s any doubt, it’s best to talk with us. Getting the right tools and names sorted early is crucial. Waiting too long might lead to a court process, which isn’t ideal.
With these tools in place and our guidance, your loved one’s assets will be managed by people they trust as dementia progresses. Planning ahead helps them relax later on because they know things are taken care of.
Power of Attorney for Healthcare
Just like a General Durable POA, a Healthcare Power of Attorney (HPOA) appoints someone to make medical choices for your loved one when they can’t. Sorting this out early lets your loved one share their medical preferences and ensures those wishes are followed.
This HPOA should also cover a Declaration to Physicians, like a Living Will, laying out their thoughts on medical treatment, life support, and end-of-life care. Talking about these wishes and making them clear ensures that their choices about treatment and interventions are noted and respected.
Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or advanced dementia can be really expensive, ranging from $2,500 to over $10,000 a month. It’s crucial to talk about these costs and preferences now, before dementia takes away the chance to decide anything.
Plan As Early As Possible
One of the most important things in dealing with dementia is helping your loved one sort their estate planning while they still can. Waiting until later on can limit choices and stress everyone out.
Sorting legal stuff early ensures their wishes are followed and their affairs handled by trusted people, no court needed.
If your loved one’s dementia is more advanced, stay tuned next week. We’ll discuss late-stage planning to avoid family conflicts over their care.
At Cheever Law, APC, we don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death for yourself and the people you love, starting with a valuable and educational Life & Legacy Planning Session. This will allow you to get more financially organized and make the best choices for the people you love. If you have already completed your estate plan, we will review that plan at your Life & Legacy Planning Session to ensure that it will work the way you intend and address any holes or gaps that may be present if circumstances have changed since you executed your plan.
To learn more about our one-of-a-kind systems and services, contact us or schedule a no-obligation 15-minute introductory phone call today.