A lot of folks will come to us because of the needs of their parents with serious memory issues. We hear the word Alzheimer’s. We hear the word dementia. And unfortunately, they don’t have the capacity to make a good or a bad decision.
The first thing we’ll ask for is, well, do you have a power of attorney? And we need to review that power of attorney to make sure it can. It’s what we call strong enough. It can get the job done. I’m always keeping my fingers crossed that the client says, yes, Chris, I have that power of attorney. We had our attorney execute it for us a few years ago when mom and dad first were diagnosed, and it’s been sitting in a drawer for a rainy day.
The reason I’m keeping my fingers crossed is because if we do not have the power of attorney, then we’re in what’s known as a guardianship. Guardianship has a purpose, but you don’t want to volunteer to be awarded the state of Ohio and you don’t want Ohio making your personal or your financial decisions, if not absolutely necessary. So to revert that, you want to have a power of attorney which will eliminate the need for guardianships.