<prompt> Human: I said losing his mind instead of losing his memory, because at times it seems like he is just crazy. Im worried that he will lose his house and wind up a ward of the state or worse, homeless. My grandfather had never been good with money, but has always made ends meet through sheer determination. Hes one of those people that worked ten times harder than he needed to his whole life because he was constantly making bad, BAD, financial decisions. Now hes 83 and those same decisions are becoming harder to recover from due to his limited income. He still works by the way.So here is my question: At what point can an ageing family member be declared incapable of handling their own finances? How do I, or my father, go about being put in charge of my grandfathers money? I dont think I need to go into specifics, but there are enough examples of his erratic behavior lately that it wouldnt be hard to prove that something is definitely wrong. Unfortunately he appears lucid to people who dont know him personally, such as sales people or financial services professionals. He is now bankrupt thanks to some recent unfathomable transactions and WILL lose his house if anyone but a money whisperer touches his finances.I could use any advice you have from dealing with stubborn, aging relatives. Thanks for you input.  <response>: A doctor can evaluate his capacity to make his own decisions. Unfortunately he would need to cooperate with the exam. If his behavior was a risk to himself or others he could be involuntarily committed for 72 hrs for eval, but financial bad decisions dont really meet the criteria. Unfortunately, unless you can persuade him to go to a doctor the alternatives are usually considered hostile by the person involved. You can report self-neglect to adult protective services and they can evaluate. If they find hes not able to care for himself they would initiate a court proceeding to establish a guardian. Other than that you can file for guardianship with the court and they can order a capacity eval that he cant just refuse. Again, if that doesnt work youve really burned all your bridges so be careful. Ive worked in nursing facilities for 9 years and this is something I see too often. We have spouses come in with thousands of dollars in bills because the person doesnt have the judgement to make adequate decisions. I would recommend trying to get him to sign Power of Attorney paperwork so you can help him with his finances. This would allow you to backtrack somewhat: cancel orders, access to bank accounts, etc. 