MSU Extension Releases MontGuide On Planning Documents For Montanans Concerned About Memory Loss
Montana State University Extension has released a new MontGuide that explores memory loss and its impact on estate planning and health care.
The guide, “Financial, Estate and Health Care Planning Documents for Montanans Concerned About Memory Loss,” explores financial; estate or legacy; and health care documents recommended by legal professionals and gives three examples of Montana couples who face memory loss.
The MontGuide discusses the financial, estate and legal documents necessary to deal with a diagonsis like early stage Alzheimer’s, with a focus on documents individuals need to sign while they still have the legal capacity to do so, said Marsha Goetting, MSU Extension family economics specialist.
Another example in the MontGuide describes a married couple where the husband suffers from vascular dementia and has difficulty with reasoning, planning, decision making and memory. Goetting said the guide will describe the legal documents his wife will need to initiate since she is the only one of the two with legal capacity to make financial decisions.
Lastly, the MontGuide covers the many complications that arise when neither member of a couple has legal capacity to make financial decisions and sign documents.
“Their children must step in to make decisions for them about living arrangements, health care and finances,” said Ed Eck, Professor Emeritus at the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana. Eck is a contributor to the MontGuide.
Copies of the MontGuide can be downloaded at https:// store.msuextension.org/publications/ FamilyFinancialManagement/ MT202005HR.pdf. For those who do not have computer access, copies are available from county Extension or reservation offices.
