LEGAL DOCUMENTS

Upon receiving the diagnosis of dementia, the patient and his family need to act soon to get their legal affairs in order.

Most legal documents require a witness or notary to certify that the person signing is competent and understands what he is signing. At some point in the progression of the disease, that competency will be difficult to certify. Even if the necessary legal documents are fairly current, they should be reviewed in light of the patient’s coming journey of cognitive impairment.

Although the internet is full of do-it-yourself templates for all sorts of legal documents, the advice here is to hire an attorney who specializes in elder law or estate law to make sure the documents are enforceable and that they address the specific wishes of both the patient and his family members.

While the will is the legal document most people think of when imagining an estate planning process, there are many additional decisions and documents that must be considered:

  • What will happen to what I own?
  • Who will manage my affairs when I am incapacitated?
  • Who will act as my agent for legal, business, and healthcare decisions?
  • What life-sustaining care do I want administered or NOT administered?

The following articles discuss in more detail the kinds of estate and personal care decisions that should be made in advance, and the legal documents required to make sure that those decisions are carried out when the time comes to act on those decisions:

Click Here To Visit alzheimers.gov

Click Here To Visit alz.org

The worst time to plan the burial of a loved one is after their passing. Time is short, emotions are running high and it is difficult to think clearly. As part of the estate planning process discussed elsewhere in this directory, family caregivers should contemplate the funeral and burial that will come someday and make preparations in advance:

  • Embalming or cremation?
  • Funeral or memorial service?
  • Which funeral home will handle the arrangements?
  • Where to hold the service?
  • Where will burial take place?
  • What will it cost?
  • Who should be notified of the loved one’s passing?
  • What will the eulogy say?

As hard as it might be to deal with these questions when you see a loved one slipping away, it will be even harder if you must deal with them in the immediate hours following his passing.

“Your patience, your consistency, your grace — they plant seeds of calm and comfort.”