You know your parent can no longer take care of their finances; they haven’t paid bills in months. You are named as the Successor Trustee, which means you can act when your parents are deceased or “incapacitated.” How is incapacity determined? Most trusts will require letters from two doctors.
Getting these letters can be a challenge. One issue is the ability of a person with dementia to appear capable when they are not. Another issue is that doctors are busy and are not paid to write these letters. If you can’t get the letters, you can’t take over and will end up in court, just as I did with my mother-in-law.
This is why whenever I update trusts, I encourage my clients to consider adding their child (or another trusted person) as a co-trustee. This puts them in charge with you now, so you can teach them how you save and manage your money. Then, when you are no longer able, they are already in charge and can seamlessly take over.
