What Should I Do After Being Diagnosed With Early Onset Dementia?
Most recently in the news, TV Presenter, Fiona Phillips has announced that she has been diagnosed with early onset dementia. Timms Wills & Probate Solicitor, Charlotte Day, discusses what you should do after such diagnosis in her latest blog…
What Is Dementia?
Dementia is a disease of the brain which affects the function of the brain. There are many different types of dementia such as; early onset dementia, alzheimer’s, vascular dementia and frontal temporal dementia. The way in which the dementia affects someone will very much depend on the type of dementia and what stage it is at.
It is therefore quite possible that, despite a diagnosis, an individual can carry on living independently, working and carrying out other day to day tasks for some time.
The different types of dementia have different rates of progression, for example some forms of dementia may cause a gradual decline in brain function, whereas others may cause a more sudden decline.
Lasting Powers Of Attorney
If you still have mental capacity at the point of diagnosis, then you should look to prepare a Lasting Power of Attorney sooner rather than later. A Lasting Power of Attorney is a document that can be prepared to give others legal authority to make decisions about your finances and/or health, should there come a time when you cannot make these decisions for yourself.
Your Will
In addition, you may also want to use this time to review or prepare your Will.
In order to make a Will you need to have testamentary capacity, and the test for this is much higher than the test for general mental capacity, which is why it’s important to review this sooner rather than later to ensure that your wishes are carried out following your death.
How Can Timms Help?
If you would like further information regarding Lasting Powers of Attorney and/or Wills, please contact Charlotte Day on 01283 214231 or via email at c.day@timms-law.com
July 2023