Dealing With An Estate Of A Family Member With Dementia

Our Estate Litigation team of lawyers appreciates that this can be very difficult for those individuals involved. We understand the sensitivity of these issues and have the expertise to mitigate and resolve conflicts through Mediation, Litigation or Arbitration. These are often complex, emotional situations, and we pride ourselves on balancing our clients’ legal and personal goals in seeking resolution.

Partner Heidi Taylor is often asked how to deal with an estate when a family member suffers from dementia.

Transcript:

One of the questions I often get from my clients is what to do when an elderly relative starts suffering from dementia?

Ideally, your relative, for example, your parent, will have already done an estate plan which includes power of attorney, which delegates financial decisions to someone else and also representation agreement to delegate the healthcare making decisions to another third party. If that has not been done and your relative already has dementia, at least the advanced stages of dementia, then the next step would be to apply to Court to be appointed as the comity that would give you decision-making authority over both finances and health care decisions. That is a more expensive process, so it is far preferable that you deal with your estate plan includes delegating financial decisions and health care decisions while you are still competent and able to make those decisions.