The moment a parent loses mental capacity, their financial life freezes. Bank accounts become inaccessible, investment portfolios cannot be managed, property cannot be sold, and bills may go unpaid. None of this can be resolved quickly because, without a power of attorney signed before capacity was lost, no family member has any legal authority to act. Not a spouse, nor an adult child, nor any family member. The assets belong, legally, to a person who can no longer manage them and cannot authorize anyone else to do so.
Obtaining that authority requires court approval. The court process, known as guardianship or conservatorship depending on the jurisdiction, can take between three and twelve months. It involves medical assessments, legal filings, hearings, and in some cases notice to family members who may contest the application. Legal fees alone commonly run between $50,000 and $200,000 for a moderately complex estate, and can be considerably higher where the family is divided or assets span multiple jurisdictions. Meanwhile, the estate sits untouched.
For families connected to the GCC, the complexity compounds. Foreign powers of attorney may not be recognized locally without legalization. Guardianship proceedings run through personal status courts and may be subject to the laws of the individual’s nationality, depending on the jurisdiction and asset structure. Where assets are held in London, Geneva, Dubai, and Riyadh simultaneously, separate legal proceedings in multiple jurisdictions may be needed before unified management of the estate is possible.
Locating what they owned
Once legal authority has been secured, the asset search begins, and is often complex. High-net-worth individuals accumulate accounts, properties, policies, and investments over decades, often across multiple institutions and countries. Documentation may be scattered, incomplete, or held by advisors who are no longer in contact with the family.
A systematic search covers bank and investment accounts, property across every relevant jurisdiction, life insurance policies (including those placed decades earlier with insurers that have since merged or changed names), pension rights from each country where the individual worked, and increasingly, digital assets and online platforms. Specialist tracing firms can assist in recovering lost policies and dormant accounts, but typically charge 10% to 25% of anything recovered. For each jurisdiction, professional fees apply separately. The total cost of a thorough multi-jurisdictional asset search, including legal fees, tracing agents, accountants, and court-appointed professionals, can reach $300,000 or more before any assets are distributed to the family.
The erosion that does not appear on any invoice
Beyond the direct costs, unplanned incapacity erodes value in ways that are harder to see but equally real. An investment portfolio frozen for twelve months during a market downturn cannot be rebalanced or protected. Property left unmanaged deteriorates and may fall into administrative disarray. Business interests held by the incapacitated person may trigger deadlock provisions or leadership uncertainty that damages the business itself. And family relationships, placed under the simultaneous strain of grief, legal complexity, and financial uncertainty, may not recover fully from the conflict that arises when there are no written instructions and no clear authority.
What a simple document prevents
A durable power of attorney, drafted, signed, and properly registered before any decline begins, gives the appointed attorney immediate authority from the moment it is invoked, without court approval, waiting periods, or ongoing reporting requirements.
A lifetime trust provides even stronger protection. Assets held in a trust are legally held by the trustee for the benefit of the beneficiaries and are unaffected by the settlor's incapacity. They are managed continuously, distributed according to the trust deed, and never frozen.
The window to plan is not unlimited. Once cognitive decline becomes apparent, the capacity to make a valid power of attorney or trust may be challenged. Instruments executed during a period of questionable capacity can be set aside by the courts. The time to act is before any indication of decline.
At The Family Office, we help families assess their current planning, identify gaps, and put structures in place before the need arises. If your family does not yet have powers of attorney, or holds assets across multiple jurisdictions without a coordinating framework, we encourage you to speak with your relationship manager. The conversation is straightforward. The alternative, as this article describes, is not.
