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By agent I assume you mean her health care agent or her POA? If you are paying bills for her car, her gas, and her insurance, knowingly allowing her to drive, that is an excellent question. She should at this point be reported to her insurance as having no license to drive and the keys should be removed by her agent I don't know if you could be adjudged as legally responsible, but it seems to me a possibility; and certainly you are morally liable at this point should she injure others. If you are an agent selling her car insurance, knowing she has no license to drive, I think any lawyer on earth would be thrilled to draw you into a massive liability suit for injury, possibly for lost of life.
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When I had to renew my auto insurance policy, I told agent it was just me driving. That my husband was not allowed to drive due to A/D. But I was worried if he took keys out of my purse, and drove the car, had an accident, and if I didn't know he did that? The agent advised me to keep him on the policy, so in case he did drive and have an accident or damage other's property, that the policy would cover it. Particularly, I was concerned as one evening while I was in the bathroom, I came out and he wasnt in the house. I looked all over the house/sun room, shed, and found him in the car on the driver's side, trying to put the house key in the ignition, as he couldn't find his car keys. I told him it wouldn't work, but he said he was just going try; I took that key and wore it on my neck. Went to take a shower, got out, hubbie not in the house. He found another house key, in junk drawer, and had that going into the ignition. At that point, I took all house keys, car keys, shed keys, etc,,. and put them in the safe and each time I needed car keys, I had to open the safe. He didn't catch on that and I had no trouble after that. Hard to deal with.
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gdaughter Jul 2020
It's amazing how in spite of the dementia they get so fixated and hold onto one idea. My mom is not wandering, at least not beyond the attraction of seeing a neighbor outside to chat with, but one worries...and if you try to get her back in the house...she is literally a snail, and an uncooperative one at that. We took to using the deadbolt lock. The front and side doors are feet apart and if she tries one door and it doesn't work, she'll go to the other, back and forth, not distressed, but forgetting she just tried the other. I have found her in search of dad's set of keys though, and one time she found them and was trying to get into the locked laundry room. It's tedious to keep things locked, but gets to the point of being the only answer as we try to keep our loved ones at home. I used a child safety lock on a bin in the fridge, rather than locking the whole fridge, but we're getting closer to having to lock her out of the kitchen or put one on the whole fridge...
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Dear Shants,
From what I've read, a doctor can't revoke someone's license himself but rather they can contact the DMV and let them know your aunt is unfit to drive due to Alzheimer's. In some states both the courts and the DMV are needed to revoke a license.
Since laws do vary from state to state, it would be wise to find out the specific rules of your state (assuming she lives in your state - otherwise, you'd have to research the state she lives in).
If she were to drive YOUR car, then yes you could be liable otherwise no, you are not responsible for another adult other than morally.
Also, you might want to consider the issue of insurance. Most states require someone to have a valid driver's license in order to obtain insurance.
Just with what has been mentioned, It sounds way too risky - why take the chance?
When I took my mom's car key's away (and I forgot to mention I am her P.O.A.), I used a locking steering wheel device (she drove fast, got lost, ran a red light and got a couple speeding tickets and then was diagnosed with Alzheimer's). This was extremely hard for me to do as she loved driving her whole life. She was very upset and mad at me as well as my husband no matter how many reasons I gave but, I couldn't bear the thought of living with the guilt and trauma if she were to get in an accident injuring or killing herself, others or both. If she injured or killed others, I wouldn't want her to live with it either. So that being said, I asked for the keys, put the device on and locked it because I was never sure if she gave me ALL her keys since she kept spares. Then I would go to her house and do the driving and put it back on before I left. Eventually, I placed her in an assisted living facility and sold the car. The facility had a transportation bus if she wanted or needed to go somewhere (within a certain radius).
You can go to the website: www.dementiacarecentral.com for some other information on dementia and driving issues. But, mostly you should try to do more research online as to when the law and liability come into play. Good luck!
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I can see the wife being held responsible because she shares the same insurance company. So the company may not pay up so she has to pay out of pocket. But I don't see where a POA can be held responsible. Their responsibility is to the persons financials (making sure bills are paid) and medical going by what the principle wants. But, thats a good question.

Like said, a doctor does not revolk a licence what he does is contact DMV. With my grandson it took DMV 3 months to send a letter and ask that his licence be turned in. Did ur Aunt get a letter or the doctor just recommended it. What you can do is disable the car. Then tell her it needs to go to the shop. Store it someplace for the time being. Out of site, out of mind. If you can sell, it must be sold at Market Value if she ever needs Medicaid and placed in her acct.
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I'm not an attorney, but I can relay this: Husb/wife reside together. Husb has dementia and refused to stop driving. Wife was advised that if he caused an accident and it can be proven that she knew about husb dementia, she could be sued for "allowing" him to drive. I think this is the question you're asking, but laws may vary and probably are not black and white. (Husb in this case does not drive anymore by the way. Wife could not accept chances of legal liability and could not live with someone else being harmed by spouse driving. )

When I personally was faced with this situation, it was an elderly lady who "refused" to stop driving. The thing was that she lacked the physical ability to even get TO the car - let alone get in it. It was a lot of grandstanding on elder's part and no real risk to her or to other drivers because it wasn't going to happen. However, had she truly had the ability to get to the car and drive it, I would have had to remove the car from her reach and park it elsewhere to avoid harm to her, other drivers, and any chance of legal liability to anyone. One more note: Hiding the keys frequently does not work as elder often has another set stashed somewhere.
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gdaughter Jul 2020
You can always have someone who knows disconnect a wire under the hood so it won't start...
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By agent do you mean her durable PoA? Legally, I don't know the answer but morally you would be if you were actually in a position to stop her (as opposed to she is in CA and you are in FL). If you are anywhere local to her you MUST physically remove her car so she cannot hurt people. My personal story is my uncle killed his own wife (my aunt) of 60+ years and injured 4 people in the other car when he went through a red light because no one had the courage or moral rectitude to just do the right (albeit difficult) thing because they didn't want to be the "bad guy" or get written out of the will.

Also, I don't think a doctor has any jurisdiction over "revoking" someone's license. It's different from state to state. Your aunt's state's DMV probably oversees that, so make sure her license is actually revoked, suspended, expired, etc. And just sneak the car away and sell it if you're her financial PoA. If you are not very local to her contact any of her neighbors or maybe even the police for help. Thank you in advance for doing this!
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gdaughter Jul 2020
and also contact the local city hall for info on the local office on aging that would serve her. You can't take transportation away without offering a substitute if the illness is not advanced and she has some capabilities. She may be able to get regular transportation on request.
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