It is now time for Money Matters Monday. So many of us know someone who suffers from Alzheimers. Preparing their estate can be tricky. Here to help is Brian Quinn from Quinn Estate and also Elder Law and Circle of Advisors.
Laura:
I am really excited about this topic. Not because it is a pleasant topic, we don’t want to think about it. But so many people are getting diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Pun not intended, this is something we kind of forget about when that diagnosis happens.
Brian:
Yes, I would say it is probably one of the more challenging things in my practice, because at our office we do a lot of estate planning and elder law or long term care planning. So,we will have situations where someone will come in and if they have done a lot of the planning to put powers of attorney, trusts and wills in place prior to that diagnosis, sometimes they are looking to expand into better powers of attorney. Sometimes we are just using what they have in place. But one of the problems you’ve got is if you forget to do the planning, if you get to a point where you have crossed over and can no longer plan, when you have that Alzheimer’s,dementia, or various other diagnoses, you have some sort of cognitive impairment, you are really limited as an attorney and as a family, a client, as to what you can do at that point.
Laura:
So, if you are a family that does not have the powers of attorney, all of that, organized, and then your family member is diagnosed, I am guessing making an appointment with an attorney right away is a good idea.
Brian:
Absolutely. Because oftentimes even when you have received that diagnosis it is not too late to plan. In Missouri you need to have what is called testamentary capacity. What that really means is you understand who your family members are, you understand what your estate consists of, you can give me an idea as to what you want to do with your estate, who you want in charge. Some of the more difficult conversations I have with people are when they have crossed over and they can no longer give me that information. How do we plan at that point? If you have time to plan ahead, even if you have received that diagnosis but you are still in the early or even mid stages of a cognitive impairment, you can put the documents in place and you can choose who is in charge of making decisions and what decisions they can make. Once you cross over, it is up to the court to put that in place for you.
Laura:
For any of you watching, of course we hope none of you know of anyone who gets an Alzheimer’s diagnosis or anyone in your family eventually does. Before any of that, what should people who are aging do, just to have in place in general?
Brian:
Probably one of the most important things is to see a professional. That could start with financial planning. Certainly legal planning is a big part of it. Making sure that you get something in place and have something that can last into any point where you become incapacitated is really important because there are real significant limitations as to what you can do and how you can pay for care if you don’t have that in place.
Laura:
It is not pleasant to think about, but it is something that we all should consider as we age.
Brian:
Absolutely.
