When Dementia Affects a Business Owner

6th July, 2026

3 minute read

A recent storyline in the long-running TV drama Coronation Street has brought renewed attention to the realities of vascular dementia. In the plot, Debbie Webster is diagnosed with the condition, raising difficult but important questions about future planning, decision-making capacity, and what happens when a business owner is no longer able to manage their affairs.

While the character is fictional, the legal and practical issues are very real, particularly for anyone running a business in the UK.

Dementia and capacity: a real-world legal risk

Vascular dementia is a progressive condition that can affect memory, reasoning, planning, and decision-making. For business owners, this can have immediate and serious consequences, including:

Inability to manage contracts or financial decisions
Difficulty understanding complex commercial matters
Risk of missed deadlines or regulatory non-compliance
Vulnerability to financial abuse or poor decisions made on their behalf

Under UK law, if a person loses mental capacity without the right legal safeguards in place, no one automatically has authority to step in, not even a spouse or business partner.

This is where a Lasting Power of Attorney becomes essential.

What is a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)?

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that allows a person (the “donor”) to appoint one or more trusted individuals (attorneys) to make decisions on their behalf if they lose mental capacity in the future.

There are two types:

1. Property and Financial Affairs LPA

This covers business and financial matters such as:

Running business bank accounts
Paying staff and suppliers
Signing contracts
Managing investments or property
Handling HMRC and tax matters

2. Health and Welfare LPA

This covers personal decisions such as:

Medical treatment
Care arrangements
Living arrangements

For business owners, the Property and Financial Affairs LPA is often the most urgent and commercially critical

Why an LPA is vital for business owners

Without an LPA in place, even a well-established business can face disruption if the owner loses capacity. Key risks include:

Business paralysis - Banks, accountants, and suppliers may refuse to act without legal authority. This can effectively freeze operations.

Costly court applications - Family members or colleagues may need to apply to the Court of Protection to become a deputy. This process is slow, expensive, and public.

Loss of control - Without prior planning, the court decides who manages affairs, not the business owner.

Strain on family and staff - Uncertainty can lead to internal disputes, loss of confidence, and operational instability.

Lessons from high-profile dementia storylines

Public storylines such as Debbie’s diagnosis in Coronation Street help highlight how quickly circumstances can change. They also show that cognitive decline does not always follow predictable stages, and legal planning should not be left until symptoms become severe.

For business owners, the key lesson is simple: capacity should be planned for while you still have it.

Choosing the right attorneys

Selecting attorneys under an LPA is one of the most important decisions a business owner will make. Consider:

Trustworthiness and financial competence
Understanding of the business
Ability to act jointly or independently (as appropriate)
Willingness to take on responsibility during stressful periods

In some cases, business owners appoint:

A family member for personal affairs
A professional adviser or co-director for business matters

Timing matters

An LPA must be created while the individual still has mental capacity. If capacity is lost, it is too late to put one in place.

This is why early planning is essential, even for individuals who feel they are in good health.

How we can help

Dementia does not just affect individuals, it can disrupt entire households, businesses, and livelihoods.

For business owners, a Lasting Power of Attorney is not just a legal document, it is a continuity plan for everything you have built.

Our private client team and our commercial team can:

Prepare tailored LPAs for business owners
Ensure documents align with company structures
Advise on shareholder agreements and succession planning
Help coordinate LPAs with wider estate planning