Can You Get Power Of Attorney For Someone With Dementia?
If a friend or relative has recently been diagnosed with dementia, you may be worrying if it’s too late to set up a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) for them – and the answer is, it depends on their mental capacity.
A diagnosis of dementia does not in itself equate to a loss of mental capacity, necessarily, as it depends on how far progressed the condition is. In the eyes of the law, mental capacity is the ability to make informed decisions, to understand information relating to each decision and to use this as the basis before communicating the decision.
Everyone has the right to make their own decisions in life when they can, and in the early stages of dementia there may still be sufficient mental capacity required in order to set up an LPA.