QWANZ

The issue promises to become even more complicated as researchers and doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s earlier and earlier. If new brain scans and other methods show signs that a person is developing dementia, does that mean the patient should be watched, or that there should be limits on his or her abilities to make financial or legal decisions?...   >>>

The issue promises to become even more complicated as researchers and doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s earlier and earlier. If new brain scans and other methods show signs that a person is developing dementia, does that mean the patient should be watched, or that there should be limits on his or her abilities to make financial or legal decisions?



Financial firms are in “a dicey situation” if they have to decide whether a client can make major decisions about finances or future plans, said John M. Gannon, senior vice president for investor education with the financial regulatory agency. “Even doctors can have trouble figuring that out,” he said.



And yet, according to research by Daniel C. Marson, a neuropsychologist at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, confusion over money and finances is perhaps the most important and most predictable early functional change as people descend into dementia.



For lawyers, the main question is at what point a client lacks the capacity to execute a will or other document, and who decides when that point has been reached. And if a lawyer lets a client go ahead, will the document be challenged?



[excerpt taken from article linked below]