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When Is It Time To Relinquish Your Loved One's Financial Responsibilities

In March 1998, Daniel C. Marson, JD, Ph.D, associate professor and director of the Division of Neuropsychology in the Department of Neurology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and colleagues were awarded a five-year, $700,000 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to study financial capacity in people affected by Alzheimer's disease.

The study, already a year underway, involves older community-dwelling adults. The group consists of 100 older adults without Alzheimer's disease as the control group, 100 older adults in the early stages of Alzheimer's and 100 older adults in the middle stages of Alzheimer's.

The study focuses on two specific concepts:

  • Everyday financial tasks: carrying out financial transactions at the bank, managing a checkbook, understanding a bank statement, etc.
  • Complex financial tasks: knowledge of property ownership, estate arrangements, payment of bills, the ability to avoid financial exploitation and the ability to make sound business and investment decisions.

"Assessing financial capacity in individuals with Alzheimer's disease can be very tricky. The management of one's own funds is a critical aspect to one's self-esteem in our society," says Marson. "It is important to have more systematically established indicators for caregivers so they know when to take away certain tasks."

Too often, caregivers prematurely take away all financial responsibilities from the person affected with Alzheimer's disease. For example, a person in the middle stages of Alzheimer's may not be able to maintain investment portfolios, but may be perfectly capable of paying a credit card bill. Marson asserts that it is important for the caregiver to recognize the differences in an individual's financial capacity to help preserve his or her self-esteem.

Upon the study's completion, Marson and his colleagues will have accumulated a wealth of data for evaluating functional capacity. The study's results will help family members and health care providers better determine when durable powers of attorney should be used and, in some cases, when to seek conservatorship or guardianship.

The study's findings will help protect the financial estates of cognitively impaired individuals and their families and will help preserve the autonomy of individuals who retain certain financial abilities.

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Last updated: March 30, 1999

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