We had an awesome geriatrician that got involved with my parents. He told me to get their plans updated immediately and wrote a letter stating that they still held decisional capacity. My parents did know and understand that we needed to update their plans.
Because we did not know how long we would need to care for them we insisted that all four of the adult children were named in the Durable Power of Attorney. The lawyer suggested against it stating that we should name one and have secondary, tertiary … However, we had that initially, and since my sister was listed as the primary, and me as the secondary, trying to get it recognized was headache inducing. I was the local adult child so needed to be the primary. I had to bring her resignation, then they often wanted to contact her. It just created more work when I was already overwhelmed.
We also had the benefit of caring for our parents in a unified capacity for nearly two years and have navigated a variety of bumps in the road. Should I move or die, I wanted to make sure one of my siblings could easily step in to help my parents.
Estate planning for incapacity is difficult and there are many landmines. I hope you find that you still have options even when dementia has been diagnosed. I also suggest you get a referral to a lawyer that specialized in Elder Law. You can do a search on NAELA. It’s complicated and should your loved one lose the capacity to make decisions, the last thing you want are plans that fail. Recommended.