CaptCook wrote:My point is, there is NO way we can make a broad statement that anyone should or shouldn't keep a client in this situation.
What I wrote wasn't meant as a broad statement but a response to OP.
I also wrote about what a preparer can look out for, in my layman's opinion, to be alerted to potential mental decline in a client. Unless it's a rapid decline situation, in an early stage family members, with the knowledge of your client, can get involved. Or third parties whom the client still can get to know. This shouldn't take much of your time.
And I would certainly bill for my time as I did when setting up direct debits for an elderly client who kept misplacing her bills. We would call the companies together, you can conference your client in, on recorded lines and I had her sign a doc that she wanted a direct debit set up for all these services beforehand.
Most of us will know of family members of our clients. Especially, today, when most of your elderly clients don't know how to get their tax documents online because no company mails them anymore. Usually, you get an email from the client about a family member who is going to do that for them.
If a client has no family, then action may have to be taken sooner which means lining up third parties which is part of client care and please bill for it. Mental decline is a given for most of us. Don't be in denial about this with your elderly clients. Problematic situations may arise when the client actually develops Alzheimers. They can't make sense out of the world anymore and will accuse anyone of wrongdoing, that is, ... except themselves. They didn't loose their keys, someone stole them, etc.
Alerting a family member won't always come with a "thank you, I appreciate you caring". Elderly client came back to my office in distress. She couldn't find her car in the parking lot. Walking around the parking lot on April 14th some years ago wasn't on my to do list. We found her car. She drove off. I called her husband, concerned she wouldn't find her way home. He was in denial. Most family members don't want to deal with the extra care a person needs.