Purchases made after being diagnosed with dementia. What can be done?

Addition to above post. You must have Durable Power of Attorney in order to handle her finances on her behalf. Sorry, I didn't make that clear.

You may just take the check book and cards. It depends on the level of dementia. I think I might explain that I was going to keep up with all the paperwork. Often that is a relief as they are confused by the paperwork.

They may not even remember they have a checking account or just ask you to take care of things. My loved one had a stack of unpaid bills, so I spent days catching up on overdue bills. She thanked me profusely for helping her with her bills. She never asked for anything except that I buy her pet food, soft drinks and snacks. She had stopped ordering things as she couldn't figure out how to do it. I was able to cancel some of the many magazine subscriptions.

How is the person making these purchases? Do you have a formal POA and a formal evaluation saying that the person is (legally) incompetent?

After a purchase is made, there is nothing you can do except to return it or keep it. The thing is to trying to prevent unnecessary purchases from being made. Some people with dementia can be bad to shop from catalogs or TV channels. The people lose both the ability to calculate what is being spent and also the reasoning ability to know it will put them in debt.

Could you tell us a bit more about your situation? My father was a catalog shopper. It was a very difficult situation, so I know the problems (and feelings) that unnecessary purchases can cause.

Would need more details and background but I would try and get control of charge cards, checkbook and finances. This can get very bad very quickly with dementia.