A dementia diagnosis does not automatically strip your parent of the legal ability to sell their house. Georgia asks a narrower question: did they have capacity on the day they signed? Many people in the early and middle stages of dementia can still sign a valid power of attorney, and that document is the difference between a straightforward sale and a court process that runs for months. If capacity is already gone and no power of attorney exists, the path runs through the county probate court, and you need a conservator rather than a guardian. This guide explains both roads. We buy houses, we are not attorneys, and nothing here is legal advice; on a question this consequential, have an elder law attorney look at your specific facts.
Can a parent with dementia still sign?
Frequently, yes, and this is the single most important thing families get wrong. Capacity is not a switch that flips at diagnosis. It is judged document by document and day by day, and the standard for signing a power of attorney is relatively modest: your parent needs to understand what the document is, what authority it hands over, and to whom. Someone who repeats questions, forgets names, or needs help with bills may still clear that bar comfortably. An attorney who does this work will meet with your parent privately, evaluate understanding, and document the visit precisely because the signing may be scrutinized later.
Capacity does decline, though, and it does not come back. The practical takeaway is uncomfortable but clear: if a power of attorney is still possible today, it may not be possible in six months. Families who wait for a crisis usually find the crisis and the loss of capacity arrive together.
What is the difference between a guardian and a conservator in Georgia?
Georgia separates the two jobs, and using the wrong word costs families weeks. A guardian makes personal decisions: where your parent lives, medical care, daily welfare. A conservator manages property and money: accounts, income, and real estate. Selling a house is a property decision, so the petition you need is for conservatorship. One person can hold both appointments, and often does, but a guardianship order alone will not get a deed signed. If an attorney tells you that you have “guardianship” and a closing attorney later refuses the signature, this distinction is usually why.
How does the conservatorship process actually work?
You file a petition in the probate court of the county where your parent lives. The court requires evidence of incapacity, typically an affidavit or evaluation from a physician or psychologist who has examined your parent recently, and it will often appoint its own evaluator. Your parent is served with notice, has the right to an attorney, and has the right to contest. A hearing follows. If the court appoints a conservator, that person usually posts a bond, files an inventory of the estate, and reports to the court annually thereafter.
Then comes the part families do not expect. Appointment as conservator does not by itself authorize a sale of real estate. In Georgia a conservator generally must petition the court for leave to sell, showing that the sale serves your parent’s interest, and the court signs an order before the property can be conveyed. That is a second filing on top of the first.
How long does it take and what does it cost?
Plan on two to four months from filing to appointment in an uncontested case, plus additional weeks for the order authorizing the sale. Contested cases, where a sibling objects to who serves or whether your parent is truly incapacitated, run considerably longer and get expensive fast.
Costs vary by county and attorney, but families should budget for filing fees, the court evaluator, attorney fees for the petition, a guardian ad litem in some cases, and the conservator’s bond. Attorney fees for an uncontested conservatorship commonly land in the low thousands, and a contested one can multiply that several times over. Compare all of it to a durable power of attorney prepared while your parent still has capacity, which typically costs a few hundred dollars and takes an afternoon. That comparison is the entire argument for acting early.
What happens to the house while the court process runs?
It keeps costing money. Taxes accrue, insurance is due, utilities run to keep pipes from freezing, and vacant-home insurance is often more expensive and more restrictive than the policy your parent had. Meanwhile assisted living or memory care bills arrive monthly, commonly $4,000 to $6,500 in Georgia depending on the community and level of care, with memory care at the upper end. A house standing empty for four months of court process can quietly consume a meaningful share of the equity it was supposed to free up.
Two things help. Confirm the insurer knows the home is unoccupied, because an undisclosed vacancy can void coverage at the worst possible moment. And get the sale lined up so that closing follows the court order rather than starting from scratch after it.
Should we sell at all if a Medicaid application is coming?
Slow down before you do. Your parent’s home is generally an exempt asset for Medicaid purposes while they live there or intend to return, but the cash from a sale is countable, and converting one into the other at the wrong moment can create eligibility problems that did not previously exist. Selling below market value to a family member is worse, because that shortfall is treated as a gift inside the five-year look-back. Our guide to Medicaid’s five-year look-back and selling a house in Georgia walks through the mechanics, and this is genuinely the point where an elder law attorney earns their fee.
What if my parent can still sign today?
Then treat this week as the window. See an elder law attorney about a durable power of attorney that includes real property powers, and while you are there, ask about a healthcare directive too. Our guide to selling with power of attorney in Georgia covers exactly what the document has to say for a closing attorney to accept it, and the full senior care guide covers how the sale fits into the larger move.
How do we get started?
Call (770) 799-8760 or send the property address through the form, and tell us plainly where things stand: POA in hand, conservatorship filed, or nothing yet. That answer shapes everything about how we plan the closing, and we would rather know on day one than discover it a week before the signing. We send a written cash offer in about 24 hours, coordinate with your attorney and the closing attorney on the authority documents, and close on the timeline the court and the move allow. You take what matters out of the house and leave the rest. No fees, no repairs, no cleanout, and no obligation before you sign.