Dementia comes in all shapes and sizes and can vary from time to time but there is a touchstone so far as Powers of Attorney (PoA) are concerned.
A diagnosis of dementia does not infer that capacity to make a PoA has been lost. When told that someone has lost capacity, the next question should always be – capacity to do what? Even with severe dementia, the capacity to go to the shops and contract to buy your groceries may never be lost. Perhaps entering into a contract for a complex investment trying to be sold by a pushy salesman may be a different matter, however!
What a diagnosis of dementia may well be, however, is a wake-up call to make your PoA as soon as possible, so don’t delay. If there is doubt, ask your doctor beforehand but, if there is no doubt, just go ahead and make one straight away.
The swiftest way to make one in Scotland is at MyScottishAttorney and, as well as lots of free information about PoA’s, there are videos which give the background, there.
You can make one for yourself or for your parents. It is available in your inbox as soon as you have paid and, although you will need a trip to the doctor to have a capacity certificate signed, it is done and dusted without the usual need of, at least, two visits to or by a Solicitor and at a lot less cost.
Bruce de Wert
Scottish Solicitor
Bruce is a Solicitor who, as Director of the company behind MyScottishAttorney, makes the complicated simple and you can make a Scottish Will or a Scottish Power of Attorney for yourself or your loved one.
