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Kalpensacola55 Asked November 2022

Can someone get an elderly person to sign a POA if they had dementia? My mother had strokes and the doctor said that she could not sign important paperwork.

My mother had multiple strokes at one time years ago and we as a family was informed that she could not sign any legal paperwork because she had problems remembering things and had problems on her left side. Our family thought that our mom had an POA filed out for my sister but she did not so we had to have an health care proxy form done so we could take care of her medical. The family agreed to put me and my sister down just in case I would not be able too. I was able an took care of our mom to the day of her death. My mom had been diagnosed with cancer in 2021. For years my mom has been very ill. We truly needed a POA to get the care that she needed when our mom was giving us a hard time. But since we didn't have one it was nothing that we could do about that. Our mom also was diagnosed with dementia. One of our family members had our mom to signed or forged a POA knowing that our mom wasn't suppose to have signed anything because of her health. We have found out that some of our mother paperwork has been changed and we know that she could not have done it. What can we do about this family member taking advantage of a disabled person with dementia an previous strokes and change paperwork for their own personal gain. The family member had others to help them achieve this thing with taking advantage of the elderly.

MACinCT Nov 2022
Every diagnosis should have a date in the medical record. You can reference that date and compare with the legal document.. You might find it on an electronic record. Do you have ability to obtain this? Otherwise see an attorney if you need to legally seek it out.

AnnReid Nov 2022
My mother was seen by a lawyer who was willing to have her choose a POA, but not to write a will.

I was the only person available as POA, and also her only heir.

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Grandma1954 Nov 2022
In some cases a lawyer will talk to the person and based upon the "interview" they may decide the person is competent to sign a POA or other documents.
but if the lawyer thinks the person is not competent then you can not have them sign and would probably end up having to obtain Guardianship.
In this case I would probably go back to the lawyer and question the legality of the document. If this was a different lawyer I would have the first one that did the original documents send a letter to the second one.
This may also be reported to your States Elder Abuse Hot line as it is financial abuse

freqflyer Nov 2022
Kalpensacola55, it would be best to see an Elder Law Attorney. Each State has their own laws.

ventingisback Nov 2022
Complicated, but the only person who can really tell you what to do, is a lawyer.

I think you’re referring to inheritance and the will? You can contest the will. You can also contest other documents (forged) (or forced) (or undue influence)…

A doctor can’t declare someone mentally incompetent. A doctor can give a diagnosis (example: dementia). But only a judge in court, can decide someone’s mentally incompetent and can’t sign documents.

Even if you have dementia, you’re allowed to sign documents - it depends on how bad the dementia is.

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