How Neurologic Conditions Affect Planning

To best address current and future client needs, practitioners must understand the incidence and nature of the challenges that aging and disease can create. Many practitioners plan under the misconceptions that: (1) physical disability means a client who’s wheelchair-bound, and (2) cognitive issues are typified by a client lacking any decision-making capacity (that is, a black and white paradigm). Thus, many plans trigger springing durable POAs when a client is “disabled.” In reality, only about 7 percent of those with disabilities use a walking aid (wheelchair or otherwise), and there are myriad shades of gray between being competent and completely lacking any decision-making capacity. Further, disabilities often aren’t suddenly present at a certain point in time, but wax and wane during the progression of a disease, and even during the course of a day, as the effects of medications may vary. So, many clients may prefer a more refined or tailored trigger mechanism. Brain disease, in particular, presents a wide range of symptoms and planning challenges that affect a surprisingly large number of clients.

As the importance of planning to minimize estate tax has waned and the population continues to age, both the incidence and relative importance of planning for clients’ brain disease or brain injury will increase substantially. 

Not only should legal documents be tailored to address a client’s specific challenges, but also the planning team must educate clients to take practical steps to implement the planning. Bear in mind that the risks faced by those with neurologic disease may be broader than those faced by other clients.

There’s a greater risk that the client may be taken advantage of by those with access to the client’s financial assets.

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How Neurologic Conditions Affect Planning