09/04/2026
RMO LLP Founding Partner Scott Rahn was recently featured in a Moneywise article discussing the legal considerations families may face when managing financial decisions for a parent with dementia.
The article examines a situation involving a $200,000 stock certificate that requires the signature of a 90-year-old mother with dementia. As Scott explains, the threshold question is whether the parent has the legal capacity to understand the transaction and its consequences. Capacity depends on the particular decision at issue, and procedural safeguards such as notarization or a signature guarantee cannot overcome a lack of capacity.
Scott also emphasizes an important point for anyone acting on behalf of an aging parent: the asset still belongs to the parent. Any effort to access, sell, or manage it must be undertaken for the parent’s benefit, using appropriate legal authority rather than attempting to work around diminished capacity.
The situation highlights why advance planning, including appropriate powers of attorney and other incapacity planning measures, can be critical when families are later called upon to manage a loved one’s financial affairs.
Read Scott’s insights in Moneywise, Yahoo Finance, and AOL: https://rmolawyers.com/blog/dementia-and-stock-certificates-insights-from-moneywise/
