Planning ahead for later life means thinking about wills, mental capacity and financial decisions before a crisis forces the issue. AJH Social Work provides independent social work support for families, solicitors and legal professionals dealing with these situations, including capacity assessments, best interests decisions and Court of Protection work. Their recent guides cover making a will in later life, how dementia affects decision-making, and when gifting money or property raises legal or safeguarding concerns.
Planning Ahead in Later Life: What Families Really Need to Know
There are some conversations families put off for as long as possible.
Wills. Dementia. Money. Property. Who gets what, who decides what, and whether the person making the decision actually understands it. Not exactly Sunday afternoon chat, but these are exactly the things that become harder, more stressful and more emotionally charged when nobody has thought about them in advance.
AJH Social Work has published a set of guides covering these subjects in plain, practical terms. They work with families, solicitors, attorneys and deputies, providing independent social work input including mental capacity assessments, best interests decisions and Court of Protection work. The guides are written for real families with real concerns, not for people who enjoy reading legal documentation for fun.
Why wills get complicated later in life
Making a will is, in principle, fairly straightforward. A person decides what should happen to their money, property and possessions after they die, picks an executor and names their beneficiaries.
But life gets messy. Families change. People remarry. Someone moves into care. A relative develops dementia. And suddenly the question isn’t just “what do I want?” but “am I still in a position to make that call?”
AJH Social Work’s guide, What Families Should Know About Making a Will in Later Life, looks at why it matters to think about this stuff before everyone is already under pressure.
Dementia and wills: it’s not as clear-cut as you might think
Here’s something a lot of families get wrong. A dementia diagnosis does not automatically mean someone cannot make or change a will.
Capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 is decision-specific. Someone might struggle with certain decisions but still be perfectly able to make others. For a will, the question is whether they have what’s called testamentary capacity, which basically means: do they understand what a will is, what they own, who might reasonably expect to benefit, and whether any mental condition is affecting the decision in a meaningful way?
AJH Social Work’s article, Can Dementia Affect Someone’s Ability to Make a Will?, covers this carefully, including how capacity can change over time, why timing matters, and when an independent assessment is worth getting.
Families can get this wrong in both directions. Some assume a diagnosis means the person should be written out of their own decisions. Others ignore obvious concerns because the conversation feels too hard. Neither is good enough.
When gifting becomes more than a family matter
Giving money or property to someone during your lifetime can seem like a purely personal choice. Often it is. Help with a deposit, a contribution to someone’s bills, a meaningful gift while you’re still here to see it used.
But larger gifts can raise real questions, particularly where an older person or someone with dementia is involved. Did they understand what they were giving away? Did they know how it might affect their care costs, their estate, their future security? Were they making the decision freely?
AJH Social Work’s guide, Capacity to Gift: What It Means and When You Need Help, explains how the Mental Capacity Act applies here, why attorneys and deputies have limited gifting powers, and when a large or unusual gift might become a safeguarding concern.
If something feels off, this is worth reading. A sudden large transfer, a change in long-standing financial habits, one family member benefiting in a way that doesn’t quite add up. Sometimes there’s a straightforward explanation. Sometimes there isn’t.
When an independent assessment helps
Families usually deal with these situations while already tired, worried, or quietly grieving. That’s not the ideal state for clear thinking, and these are exactly the kinds of decisions where getting things wrong can matter for a long time.
Independent social work input can help where a solicitor has asked for a capacity assessment, where there’s disagreement between family members, where there are concerns about pressure or financial abuse, or where the situation may later come before the Court of Protection.
It’s not about taking decisions away from people. It’s about understanding whether the person can make a specific decision themselves, and making sure there’s clear evidence of that if it’s ever challenged.
These things are easier to sort before a crisis
Nobody particularly wants to sit down and talk about wills, dementia and gifting over a cup of tea. But leaving it until there’s already a problem makes everything harder and more expensive, usually emotionally as well as practically.
AJH Social Work’s guides are a good place to start if your family is trying to work out what comes next.