Father was POA - now he haas died???

jonny3979

My Great Uncle gave my father power of attorney over his financies etc about 10 - 15 years ago - in that time G uncle was taken into care and the house where he lived with his sister was sold when the sister died. The sister's will left her half to my uncle - so when the money came in - my father took his half. GUncle had his half placed into a bank account and stayed there.
My father died this weekend and I have been left to gather up the pieces which my father left.
Now that my father has died - who has the POA - does it end.
How can we get a new POA (G.Uncle is now mentally incapable of making this decision)
Reading some of the information/thoughts of others some comment that the money that my father recieved from the sister's will should not have been passed to him as the brother (GUncle) was still alive - my problem is that my father spent this money and as such - could a member of the family dispute this and make my mother pay up the money???

Hope this makes sense - any information is much appreciated as Im way way out of my depth.

Thank you

Jon

floss2

I'm sorry, I'm a little confused - this is how I have understood what you have written:

Your great aunt & her brother, your great uncle shared a house.
Your great aunt died, leaving half of her estate to her brother in her will. (to whom was the rest left?)
Your great uncle is in care, with half of his sister's estate in the bank.
Your father had his uncle (your great uncle's) POA
Your father has now died.

Are you your great uncle's only living relative?
Have you told the necessary people that your father has now died (re the POA)? (I'm not sure whether it is a Court-registered document)
Was the money that your father has "spent" the money left to his uncle, from any bank account that he had POA over?
Or was the money left to your father according to your great aunt's will?

Savvy_Sue

Someone will have to apply to the Court of Protection to take over the Power of Attorney, I believe, but it would be worth seeing if there is something on their website about what happens in this situation. Your great uncle's residential home may well have information as well.

I am sorry for your loss.

patchwork_cat

From what I have inferred from your post your father took your great Uncles share of an inheritance for himself and spent it on himself. You are grieving and emotional and I am sorry to say this but your father stole that money. I infer that your concern at the moment is for your mum who might face having to find this money from the estate.

sloughflint

I don't think there is anything untoward here, patchwork cat so perhaps changing your post at this sad time might be appropriate.

Perhaps OP can clarify but my guess is this:

GA left her share of the house ( belonging to brother and sister) to OP's father ( ie a typo in first post) . When the house was sold after GA's death, OP's father claimed his inheritance and put GU's own share of the sale of his house in GU's account when the house was sold.

I'm trying to work out what OP's read to cause concern and I wonder if it is perhaps life interest in view of this comment:

jonny3979 wrote: »

that my father recieved from the sister's will should not have been passed to him as the brother (GUncle) was still alive

Could the sister's Will have passed her half of the house to OP's father but with a life interest to the G Uncle?

We need to know a bit more from OP before commenting further. Although if I am on the right lines, I don't think he needs to worry too much.

sloughflint

This link may be of use for the POA side of things:
http://www.publicguardian.gov.uk/decisions/asking.htm

jonny3979

Thank you for all the replies - I will try and clarify this a bit more.

Uncle and Aunt lived in the same house - equal rights/ownership to it. Uncle moved out of the house and into care. When this happened my father took POA for the Uncle. Uncle made will leaving his estate to my father minus small amounts of money to other members of the family.

Aunt then dies. Aunts will leaves her half of the house to my father and small amounts of monies to other family members.

My Father takes his half of the house in cash and keeps it as per the will.
Uncle gets his half of the house and has that in a bank account.

Father has now died.

Social services who assess the care allowances state that the cash which my father took, should have been passed to the Uncle as he was still alive and the house was in joint names. They are therefore back dating a bill for his care which includes my fathers half of the house -

Hope this clarifies some points.

My Great Uncle had no siblings, but there are members of the family (nephews and nieces alive)

kazwookie

Go to a good solicitor and get half hours free advise. Write down who owned what etc take copies of wills etc with you if you have them.

My mother dies earlier this year, in a nursing home, and it seems she is / was allowed to leave £22,250 in her will, anything over this amount goes back to the council!!

So get good advise and fast.

sloughflint

jonny3979 wrote: »

Thank you for all the replies - I will try and clarify this a bit more.

Uncle and Aunt lived in the same house - equal rights/ownership to it. Uncle moved out of the house and into care. When this happened my father took POA for the Uncle. Uncle made will leaving his estate to my father minus small amounts of money to other members of the family.

Aunt then dies. Aunts will leaves her half of the house to my father and small amounts of monies to other family members.

My Father takes his half of the house in cash and keeps it as per the will.
Uncle gets his half of the house and has that in a bank account.

Father has now died.

Social services who assess the care allowances state that the cash which my father took, should have been passed to the Uncle as he was still alive and the house was in joint names. They are therefore back dating a bill for his care which includes my fathers half of the house -

Hope this clarifies some points.

My Great Uncle had no siblings, but there are members of the family (nephews and nieces alive)

It does clarify quite a bit. I was pretty close then.

It all depends how the house was owned by your GU and GA. Were they joint tenants or tenants in common?

Perhaps SS are wrong so please check the ownership carefully.

If the house was owned as joint tenants then I am afraid despite your GA's Will wishing to pass her share of the home to your father, it would automatically pass to your GU.

If however the house was owned as tenants in common and the Will stated that the share should pass to your father then you have nothing to worry about.

patchwork_cat

sloughflint i did say inferred and my opinion and i am sorry, so there is no need to change my post. Having lost both my parents a while ago and my own stepfather 6 weeks ago I know exactly what you are going through and that is why I think you should perhaps take your time and not take on too much at the moment. Perhaps it would be an idea to have a chat with a solicitor. Perhaps the detail about the LA bill in the first post would have helped, but the OP mentioned other family members wanting the money and no mention of care bill.

jonny3979

Hi Thanks for the advice -

The sol who looked after the Aunt and Uncle's family (brother and sister) was approached by my father when the aunt died and he stated that the money from the Aunts will was fine to go to dad - hence he took it. Unfortunately this sol has died and when my father requested the paperwork to resolve these issues there was nothing but the POA doc and wills...

Looking through more paperwork which I have found it would appear that the tennant in common/joint tennant question has arisen and this was looked into - the only record of ownership for the house was the builder and the present day owner - nothing to say my aunt or uncle owned it at all?????

Can anyone offer advice on where this Joint Tennnat or Tennant In Common may be recorded???

Thank you

Jon