Can my mother who has dementia legally sign a POA?

I believe they can sign a POA with dementia, however, they need to be able to understand what they are signing at the time they are signing it. If they have earlier stage dementia they may be able to sign a POA. The attorney will ask them questions to determine their level of understanding (this is how it went for me back when my parents signed).

Even if they forget after they signed it..they need to be able to have an understanding at the time they signed. If they have no concept of what the POA is or why they are signing it.. then no... they shouldn't have been able to sign it...

Perhaps you would do yourself a favor by hiring an elder law attorney.

If she has no concept or understanding of what she is signing, then I don't think it would be legal, as she lacks mental capacity to execute those type of agreements. I would talk to your elder law attorney and see what you can do to protect your mom's interests, particularly if your sister has dishonest motives.

Oh wow.. that might be kind of fishy. I would have involved an attorney ..especially since she already has dementia... there is no proof that she understood what she was signing at that moment. Did she have a notary witness her signing it?

I would see an elder attorney ..she already had a POA.. what is her reason for another one?

If your sister is doing ALL the care you should appreciate what she is doing. Otherwise as POA your mom in my opinion should be living with you, so it makes me wonder why your sister had that opportunity to make herself POA. That tells me you are not doing any of her care. She is. I am POA and I do ALL the care for my mom include bathe her, change her diapers, clean her feces, and manage her bowels, give her meds and it takes an hour and a half just to feed her per meal. It is a very back breaking, soul destroying process.

However, it was wrong that your sister made herself POA without you transferring it to her. If I were her I would have never taken care of her, and make you do ALL the hard dirty work including sacrificing your life--but that's me. I would have never taken care of her..whoever has POA should be the primary caregiver.

Just to clarify: your mother is in an Independent Living facility - as per your profile - with your sister providing regular support?

Or your mother is living with your sister, in your sister's home, with your sister providing full-time care?

In the first, your sister shouldn't really need POA. It shouldn't be too difficult to refer any bills or expenses to you. Has that been happening smoothly up to now?

In the second, as I can tell you from experience, although it is possible and there are even advantages (transparency, avoidance of conflict of interest) to the absent sibling's being POA, it is overall a massive pain in the butt; and particularly so in the absence of reliable communication.

To answer your actual question: if you can demonstrate that your mother, at the time she signed your sister's new POA document, could not have understood what she was signing, then this new document is not valid and the previous POA stands.

Moving on to what the POA is actually for: who is paying your mother's bills? Who is managing her money? What, if any, accounting or reporting requirements were written into the document? And how do you want to move forward?

Hire a lawyer. I just found out my brother did this for DPOA and not only that, he had her amend her trust to remove me & name him 100% with his kids as beneficiaries. My children were also removed since I am no longer a beneficiary. This was all done in July 2017 but I just found out when I hired a lawyer. Some siblings are greedy, manipulative people where their only concern is for themselves!

Ddownloaded forms from your state attorney general or superior court are legal valid documents, the do require a notary.

If your mom lives with your sister, your sister should be getting paid for her care as well as mom paying her own way, ie rent, utilities, food and transportation.

You say your sister only wants moms money, that is not true by the facts you yourself have shared. Caregiving is very trying and you basically give up your life for the person you are caring for. Your sister has done this for your mom. Your dad may have seen things one way but the reality is that your sister, not you, brought mom into her home. Making her life difficult because of a dead person's wishes is really unfair and you should be helping your mom by helping your sister if you want to honor your dads request.

Sorry if that sounds harsh but you need to look at the reality of today, not 6 years ago.

I think there are different legal thoughts on this, but as our attorney who is an elder law specialist explained, so long as the dementia is not so progressed that a person doesn't know their name, where they are etc and and can understand even in the moment what they are doing, it should fly. Like they know right now and understand, and are okay with it, even though 5 minutes from now they may forget.

Consult with an attorney & try to work with your siblings. There are several types of protective legal relationships with individuals who do not have capacity. When my mother began exhibiting behavioral and intellectual changes indicative of dementia, I encouraged my brothers to join me in consulting with an attorney. We went to court to declare my mother incompetent and gained guardianship and evoke her will and trust which named me her trustee and POA. We had letters from three medical doctors citing her inability to manage her personal, legal, business affairs and dementia DX. She vehemently did not want to transfer management of her affairs to us. Via her will and trust which was executed prior to her dementia DX, I already had trustee and power of attorney to be activated upon her death or incapacity. After the court hearing, my older brother resigned, my other brother continues as Co-Guardian, but does nothing and lives on another island, and I remain my mother's sole Trustee, POA and only acting Guardian. I manage all her legal, business, personal, medical affairs. It's not easy. Luckily, she has the finances to reside in a facility for memory impaired patients. But, because the staff cannot manage her adequately, I still need to hire private caregivers and go over myself to often manage her. Good Luck. The burden of management and caregiving often falls to one person in the family.