My parents and I are planning ahead to possibly have a DPOA for my mom in case something happens to my dad. She is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. If we go ahead and get one now, does that mean she nor my dad will be able to make her decisions now or will I have to starting when the DPOA is signed?
If your parents own a house, make sure the POA is written where it allows you to sell the house in case the house needs to be sold, and your parents are unable to handle that paperwork. The POA needs special wording.
While at the Elder Law Attorney's office, have new Wills drawn up, along with other legal documents that come in handy now a days. My parents Wills were older then dirt, so with new Wills all the landmines from the old Will were gone... whew. State laws are always changing so it is good to be current.
Also, have a POA and Will made for yourself.
It is up to the principal to specify whether the agent is authorized to act right away, or only once the principal is incapacitated. It's important for the document to spell out the criteria for being incapacitated; I've read through a lot of these and many are surprisingly vague.
If the agent has authority to act right away, the principal can always override unless he/she is deemed incapacitated.
Many of the geriatric care managers I've worked with say it's good for the agent to give the POA authority to act right away. That way you don't have to bring proof that the older parent is incapacitated, in order to take action to assist the older person. But, the POA has to be trustworthy.
I believe you can also include language specifying that the POA needs to allow someone else to review the actions taken, or some such. This isn't required but I can see how it might reduce the chance of certain abuses.
Last but not least: technically the principal MUST have capacity to sign the document giving someone POA, otherwise it's not valid and you need to wait until they are mentally better, or get guardianship. "Incompetent" people signing legal documents is a no-no. That said, capacity is decision-specific and someone with mild dementia may have the capacity to assign POA to someone, despite having lost capacity to manage something complicated.
Having capacity comes down to whether the person understand the decision, the options, and the consequences. They should also be able to be consistent about the choice.
hope this helps.