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Monday, November 01, 2010

Law - "Money Woes Can Be Early Clue to Alzheimer’s"

This is an important article for attorneys. Reported by Gina Kolata in the Sunday NY Times, the lengthy front-page story begins:

Renee Packel used to have a typical suburban life. Her husband, Arthur, was a lawyer and also sold insurance. They lived in a town house just outside Philadelphia, and Mrs. Packel took care of their home and family.

One day, it all came crashing down. The homeowners’ association called asking for their fees. To Mrs. Packel’s surprise, her husband had simply stopped paying them. Then she learned he had stopped writing checks to his creditors, too.

It turned out that Mr. Packel was developing Alzheimer’s disease and had forgotten how to handle money. When she tried to pay their bills, Mrs. Packel, who enlisted the help of a forensic accountant, could not find most of the couple’s money.

“It just disappeared,” she said.

What happened to the Packels is all too common, Alzheimer’s experts say. New research shows that one of the first signs of impending dementia is an inability to understand money and credit, contracts and agreements.

It is not just families who are affected — financial advisers and lawyers say they are finding themselves in a bind when their clients’ minds seem to be slipping.

Later in the story:
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?

Lawyers have guidelines, published in 2005, that include warning signs of diminished capacity, like memory loss and problems communicating and doing calculations. The guidelines instruct lawyers to look at the legal requirements for capacity in specific situations, like making a gift. But many questions remain, said Charles P. Sabatino, who leads the American Bar Association’s Commission on Law and Aging.

“Courts are always struggling to come up with principles and definitions of capacity,” Mr. Sabatino said. Definitions of capacity vary among the states.

All too often, though, no one protects people who are losing their capacity to execute documents and their judgment about finances. Their stories of decisions gone awry tend to end badly.

Mrs. Packel had to close her husband’s business and sell their house to pay lawyers and creditors. Now they live in a one-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia. Mrs. Packel, who is 75, supports herself and her husband by working as a receptionist. He goes to adult day care.

“It’s such a complete turnaround,” Mrs. Packel said. “Arthur was a very, very bright man.”

The story links a an 80-page ABA document, "Assessment of Older Adults with Diminished Capacity: A Handbook for Lawyers."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 1, 2010 08:01 AM
Posted to General Law Related