If your parent has just been diagnosed with dementia, you need to go ahead and get things in order now while they are still able to understand things. This is because anything they have to sign they have to understand what it is. To help you, you need to get a probate and power of attorney (POA). Below is information about this so you can get started:

Probate Process

Your parent should go through the probate process before they get to the point where they have no understanding. With a probate your parent will go in front of a judge to prove that they are the owners of their will and the information listed on the will is correct. During the court proceeding, your parent will choose someone to be the personal representative over the will, such as yourself. This will allow you to distribute your parent's assets to the right people after they pass away.  You will also have to notify all creditors and beneficiaries of your parent's death.

The only thing that can get probated is assets that are in your parent's name only. For example, if they have an asset that is in a joint account this type of asset could not be probated. This is because the asset would be transferred directly to the other person on the joint account.

Hire a probate lawyer to take care of this for you. They can also give you much more information to help you understand how all this works.

Power of Attorney

A POA gives you the right to take control of your parent's affairs. Your parent is known as the principal, and you will be known as the agent.  There are different types of POAs that you should have including the two types below:

Financially-Durable

A financially-durable POA will allow you to manage everything for your parent. There is no set time, and the durable POA becomes effective as soon as your parent signs it. You can use this until your parent dies.

Many dementia patients have problems with finances. For example, they will not be able to balance their checkbook correctly, or they will forget to pay bills.  With this type of POA, you can file your parent's taxes, have access to their bank accounts to pay bills and make decisions when it comes to investments and loans. 

Medical

A medical POA gives you the right to choose where your parent lives, such as in a memory care unit, the food they eat, and the people that can bathe them. A medical POA also gives you the authority over your parent's medication and doctor appointments. The doctor can give you all the information that you need to properly care for your parent.

Hire an attorney like Patricia K Wood Atty to help you get the power of attorneys that you want setup and legalized. These two things should help both you and your parent feel much better knowing everything is taken care of.