A couple of years ago I was called to survey a small parcel of land in a subdivision. The neighbor (my client) had been using the property for several years to grow his garden, with permission from the owner, an elderly lady who lived alone. This was about 1/3 of an acre, in a subdivision of approximately 2-acre lots. Well, the elderly lady had decided that she didn't need the property and she would just deed it over to the neighbor at no charge. When I met her, I realized that she was the principal of the elementary school that I attended.
Here's where the ethics come in. Upon speaking with the elderly lady, it became clear that she had dementia. Having some experience with this, I know that people with this condition make decisions that they would never make when they were healthy. I began to feel that the client was taking advantage of her.
What would you have done?
1. Perform the survey and say "It's none of my business".
2. Refuse to perform the survey and walk away.
3. Report the situation to some type of authority.
4. Something else - if so, what?
I know what I did, and I will explain after some comments.
Contact her family, if practical, before proceeding.
My experience with dementia is that you never know when they will be on or off. With a person you do not know well, it would be hard to assess the stage of the disease. Is the neighbour taking advantage of her or is she just being kind. Only a person who knew her before her decline would have a clue. You are right to look out for her in this situation. Contacting her family or friend of long standing would probably be best. Who in authority would be able to help her? With a former Mother in Law, it took a couple of her children stepping forward and creating a Trust and latter becoming her guardian to prevent her from being taken advantage. I would definitely not want to be involved in taking advantage of her.
If she has been diagnosed with dementia, there has been a person assigned to her as ÛÏpower of attorneyÛ in some form. Usually a relative will have durable power of attorney to sign legal documents and manage finances.
If not, then parties interested can have an informal or formal legal proceeding to assign power of attorney relative to mental competency.
Remember Û health safety and welfare of the publicÛ
Is she receiving medical care? Meds?
The big case in the news here involves Tom Benson, owner of the NFL Saints and NBA Pelicans, and his heirs. He has transferred ownership interest to his present wife and his kids are now challenging based on his mental condition (dementia) after they were left out. So far the kids are not doing well with their challenge.
I only know of one test that will answer your question.
At the end of the job, will you be able to look in the mirror...
I think you know the answer...
I started to respond like Bill93 said, but then I remembered your client is the neighbor. I would talk to the client and tell them of your concerns and that you couldn't proceed without written authorization from the neighbors family.
Talk to your client and let them know your concerns, and let them know that you can't proceed without written authorization from the family.
Dementia? There are many forms. Doctors diagnose incorrectly often.
some only have difficulty expressing their thoughts but get tagged "demented".
If you feel she in incapacitated in any way (unable to reason clearly or unable to express) you Must enlist either a Family Member (like Bill93 said) or some other impartial friend or neighbor. Be frank with her and your client about the situation, honesty is respected.
Peter Ehlert, post: 335178, member: 60 wrote: Dementia? There are many forms. Doctors diagnose incorrectly often.
some only have difficulty expressing their thoughts but get tagged "demented".If you feel she in incapacitated in any way (unable to reason clearly or unable to express) you Must enlist either a Family Member (like Bill93 said) or some other impartial friend or neighbor. Be frank with her and your client about the situation, honesty is respected.
I mentioned to her that I was a student at the school where she was the principal. She didn't know what I was talking about.
Looking back at it, I didn't make the right choice but it worked out ok in the end. As most of you said, the best thing to do would have been to contact the elderly lady's family. I didn't know if she had a family, and I certainly didn't know how to contact them if she did. I performed the survey for the client, feeling the whole time that something was wrong. As usual, I got several questions from the neighbors about what I was doing. I told them that I was performing a survey for the two neighbors and left it at that. Apparently that caused concern with them and someone contacted her daughter. When I delivered the survey, the client told me that the daughter had stepped in and there would not be a transfer of property. The lady kept her property, I got paid, and I felt a big relief.
IF the grantor was truly suffering from a dementia there is a chance she might not be able to actually convey the property. Although I have seen people "give" small pieces of property to others with good intentions; I would definitely try and contact someone with her best interests at heart.
I had a client once that was up in years, frail and sometimes appeared confused. When her daughter brought her to the office for consultation it took 10 minutes for her to shuffle down the hall with her walker. The daughter had mentioned several times that mom was "not all there". We sat and talked about her desire to divide her large tract of land into smaller pieces for conveyance to her children. Every time the older lady tried to relate to me her wishes, the daughter would chime in and tell the mother "we decided not to do it that way mother, remember?" I could tell the little old lady was getting aggravated. The daughter's idea of dividing the land would definitely give her all the desirable areas with frontage.
When the daughter excused herself briefly from the conference to visit the lady's room, the mother leaned forward and whispered, "she and her husband are trying to steal my land and I don't know what to do...". I noticed in the paperwork there were two brothers that lived in another state but I had their contact info. I asked the older lady if she wanted me to contact one of her sons. She smiled and shook her head yes. About that time the daughter reappeared and mom went back into her shell.
I called the son that afternoon and he was definitely interested in what was going on. I had one more call from the daughter and she was pissed as hell at me for "meddling". I told her I was merely following the property owner's wishes. We eventually divided the land with equal area and equal road frontage...and the son paid the bill.
you did the right thing... you will be rewarded many times over
I would not be a party to the potential elder abuse.
I have personal experience with this. It took my sister some time to clean up all the stuff vultures did as she put it.
The neighbor may not have bad intentions but free property? Come on. Nothing is free especially property.
I understand how you can get pulled into a situation like this unwittingly, you live and learn.
When SWMBO pulls something out of the back of the refrigerator and asks "does this smell bad to you" I inevitably respond "if you have to ask, throw it out"
James Fleming, post: 335247, member: 136 wrote: When SWMBO pulls something out of the back of the refrigerator and asks "does this smell bad to you" I inevitably respond "if you have to ask, throw it out"
:-S:'(:-(:excruciating::-O
