The oddest thing happened last night. Sid has always had terrible handwriting. Actually, he never wrote anything in cursive. He printed. His signature was always illegible. Strong, deep strokes - an S, and then a line. For his last name, a G, a bump, and a line. It's been that way for 40 years. Last night, he had to sign a paper for our accountant, and to my shock, he struggled to write his name with all of the letters. The end result was a signature with all of the letters poorly formed. It was as if he had forgotten how he used to sign his name.
I have no idea if this is something brand new or has been going on for awhile, because I always sign the debit/credit card when we go out to eat.
Joan, when Paul got to this point, I signed for him, even the Income Tax Return. Just put POA after his signature and my name. I think it is too much stress for them to try and do this on something important. Unless they want to that is. I just never even mentioned it to Paul. I did the same with changing our deeds to my name. I signed all the papers at the Lawyers office and never even took him with me. Never told him what I was doing either. Otherwise, he would have obsessed about it. He never wrote checks or paid bills so transition there never happened.
Actually, writing his name was one of the first things to go for my husband. When we sold our house, he practiced writing his name numerous times...bless his heart, he never could get it correct. I ended up signing as POA, much to his relief.
My DH also has trouble signing his name. Whenever he has to sign on the line he can’t tell where the line is. Then he isn’t sure how to sign, so it usually ends up very messy & very big. I hate to have to ask him to sign anything.
The last time my wife tried to sign her name was on an absentee ballot 3 years ago. She couldn't get it right, so we did not submit her vote. She has not tried to write or vote since then.
on the other hand, my DH was able to sign his name until just a couple yrs ago. but oddly it looked very different from his 'original' normal signature for many years he did sign.. the whole letters and handwriting were different. i think it depends on where the disease has manifested itself in each stage. some abilities go faster than others.
My husband is no longer able to write anymore. When this started, he would print, but would repeat the letters. Example-- HHOW ARRERE YUOU? Now he doesn't write at all.......
I noticed months ago that the handwriting had worsened. Took him to the bank to endorse a check, he printed his name which is a no no. Teller asked him to please write it and he got pretty testy saying he came to this bank often. I interceded and winked at the teller and had dh write his name in cursive. Yes, there seems to be a tendency to write larger than usual. Today at the eye dr. he signed in and actually mispelled his last name. That floored me. I attribute the larger writing to the fine motor muscles in the hand stiffening with age or AD.
I don't think my husband EVER endorsed a check, even before AD. I have always did it for him. Not sure the bank would have recognized his signature. I just signed his then mine below and deposited them in our joint account.
My DH has the same handwriting problem. He hasn't had to sign his name for quite a while but his handwriting is quickly going down hill. I first noticed it when he would add items to the grocery list. At first I thought it was because of the Parkinson's but then he started not being able to spell the easiest words as well as bad handwriting. It started at about the same time that his verbal reading skills became bad.
It is part of the disease or other diseases like stroke. My Dh always had a clear strong cursive..after his TIA it was clear but the letters were much smaller. As my mom progressed in the disease she could get the Mrs. J.E and the rest was O¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢ whatever...
One time I put a sign on the phone for her, before we knew what she had..it said if you need medical help call 911.and she wrote under it later.."you are spitting in the wind" somehow she knew she could not follow those directions I think.
My Dh had been signing his name OK mostly when we voted as I have always paid the bills. Then one day we had to sign something re: our deed and he had no idea of how to even start. He always wants to vote and I know that it will be a problem this May with the elections. I tried to tell him not to think about it and just write and he got part of his name but I know that he has progressed tot he point where he wouldn't even know how to hold a pencil.
In the 39 years we were together, I don't remember Claude ever endorsing a check. I always signed his name and mine. In fact, even tho we always had a joint checking and savings account, if he wrote five checks during that time, it would be pushing it.
In 2007, we helped our daughter buy a house. Even tho his name wasn't on the mortgage and deed (my name and hers), Texas being a community property state, the mortgage company required his signature. It was agony watching him try to sign his name on the dozen or so forms.
I just had dick sign our income tax. you can recognize the capital R and at some point 2 of the letters went below the line (2 g's), but it was just up and down lines that kept going until I told him to stop. I sent a note with the tax return stating that I had a POA and my husband has dementia. that's the last time I'll ask him, but it seems that he could sign fairly recently.... Certainly last year at tax time. This seems very sudden.