Managing financial affairs following a dementia diagnosis: practical action tips

Dementia Action Week takes place between 15 and 22 May 2022. It is an awareness raising campaign by the Alzheimer’s Society aimed at encouraging people to ‘act on dementia’.

There are around 900,000 people with dementia in the UK. This is projected to rise to 1.6 million by 2040. The Alzheimer’s Society says that four in ten people said that their diagnosis took a long time because they initially believed that their symptoms were purely down to ‘old age’. Getting a diagnosis can be daunting, but over 90% of people affected by dementia said it was better to know.

When you or a loved one receives a diagnosis you are likely to have a lot of questions. One of the things you need to think about is how to manage your financial affairs. We understand that it can be difficult, if not impossible, to access finances on behalf of a person living with dementia

We can help by discussing the possibility of setting up lasting powers of attorney (LPAs) for your loved one. This may be to access and manage their bank accounts or investments, or pay utility bills and care fees on their behalf. Your loved one may also wish to appoint someone to make decisions about their care and medical treatment if and when they become unable to make these decisions themselves.

LPAs require ‘mental capacity’ to understand the documents and the consequences of appointing people to make decisions. If your loved one does not have the mental capacity to make LPAs, you may wish to consider applying for a deputyship order. Although this process is similar to preparing LPAs, the process is more time-consuming and costly.

We would recommend that you contact us as soon as possible if you have any concerns about a loved one and their ability to make decisions. We are happy to talk through the options available to you to protect your loved one and ensure that their wishes are carried out, even if they cannot do this themselves.