My father (85) owns a multi million dollar corporation and has just been told he has Alzheimer's. What's next?

I am assuming that you have or know an attorney. Ask him or her about having your father declared mentally incompetent.

I would get legal advice immediately.

I'm going to assume that by "owner" you mean that he is the majority shareholder for the corporation. I'm also going to assume that he is the CEO of the company as well?

If my assumptions are correct then there are steps that can be taken.
The board of directors (who are not employees of the company but are representatives of the shareholders, and by the way are answerable to the shareholders for the actions of the CEO) can oust the CEO by a vote. If they are not sure that he can run the company well enough, they can remove him as CEO.

As majority shareholder he still has power. In fact, he can replace the board of directors. He does have voting power over major issues of the company but will have no say in the day to day operations of the company. I'm sure he's aware of this power. This is a much more dangerous position. In this case, if he is the majority shareholder, someone (his family) needs to have him deemed legally incompetent to run the company. This involves doctors, and probably lawyers as well as a LONG process if he is not willing to see the damage he is doing to the company.

Best case scenario would be for his family members and potentially even the board of directors (hopefully people he has a respect for and a long relationship with) show him that his behavior is hurting the company and that he needs to appoint someone to make decisions for him.

In the UK there is a "mental capacity" law to help companies in EXACTLY this situation. In the US there is nothing specific for this problem, but of course someone legally incompetent to run their affairs cannot run a company. Since YOU are family, you can take this action to have him tested...are you willing to step up?

Angel

Thank you, I have already put a Board in place. They are coming from different areas so our first meeting will not be able take place until mid July. We have a Corporate attorney. I am absolutely willing to step up. I do not think my father would have ever put me in this position if he did not I was capable. I also want to say however that he still thinks of me as the baby in the family so maybe it might be his way of thinking he can have it both ways. He has a plan in place for the banks but he can still get his way with the spending. I am financial sound and really do not need the stress. It might take me walking out for him to straighten up but is he even capable of making sound decision with his diagnoses . You can only imagine he is a force or he would have never built such a large corporation in the first place. The doctor has called a family meeting but only half of the family is on board and the others are in denial to declare him incompetent. I guess being named the POA I just go forward. I just hate to loose my family over this. We are all quite close. It is already causing tension. The generation before us was torn apart by money and company stock and I swore it would never happen to this generation.

If you are COO and POA, cant you and the CFO work with your corporate attorney work behind the scenes to freeze some of the financial accounts your father is abusing until you can meet in July?