Court of Protection treating families like criminals

[Deleted User]

So says this worrying article in today's Mail On Sunday.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1222764/Secret-court-seizes-3-2bn-elderly-mentally-impaired.html

Another good reason to have an LPA.

(I posted a while back about one for my mum - I'm definitely gonna try and get one sorted - and one for me and OH too.)

misslawbore

Yes a very shocking article. What it doesn't say is that whether you hold a lasting Power of Attorney or even an old-style Enduring Power of Attorney, you can still be investigated by the Office of the Public Guardian, it's not just Deputies who are investigated. If you have the new Lasting Power, once it is registered, the OPG will decide to place you on one of three levels of supervision, depending on your performance. If you attract the top level of supervision, this involves visits to your home to check you and your relationship with your relative will be scrutinised. There will be regular snooping into your affairs financial and otherwise. All this, believe it or not, is permitted by recent law, which has made the OPG into a law unto itself, unchecked, and until today's front page article in the Sunday Mail, apart from the Heather Bateman story, most people had no idea what was going on. Their Investigations Unit is in a soulless seventies building in Edgbaston, Birmingham, close, I understand, to other investigation offices for the DWP. They work closely with local authorities and sometimes even with the police (there is even a special protocol in existence governing cooperation with local authorities).

I am myself under investigation by the OPG and I recently started the forum referred to in the Sunday Mail article called courtofprotectionproblems. Add dot lefora dot com and you will find it.

CHCscandal

http://courtofprotectionproblems.lefora.com/

retiredlady

How does one go about completing a living will or lasting power of attorney? Is there a form we could download or must it be done with a solicitor?

Errata

A Living Will covers how you would like to be medically treated. For instance it could say that you do not wish to be resucitated, or be given a particular type of treatment.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/Preparation/DG_10029429

CHCscandal

If anyone has had or is having problems with the Court of Protection COP / OPG Office of the Public Guardian, the contact email is on the support site.

Anyone who wishes to advise of their satisfaction with the COP is very much required to provide balance to the reporting.


http://courtofprotectionproblems.lefora.com/2009/10/27/the-mail-on-sunday-wants-to-hear-from-you/page1/#post15548237

dzug1

misslawbore wrote: »

If you have the new Lasting Power, once it is registered, the OPG will decide to place you on one of three levels of supervision, depending on your performance. If you attract the top level of supervision, this involves visits to your home to check you and your relationship with your relative will be scrutinised. There will be regular snooping into your affairs financial and otherwise.

News to me - I've had an LPA for months now and I'm not aware of being placed on any level of supervision.

I thgink you may be confusing it with Deputyship when yes, this happens, and there is a (variable) fee to pay for it.

chesky369

I actually found the article rather comforting - apart from the slightly hysterical Daily Mail language - families are not always the wonderful things they should be and I think it a good thing that a disinterested body is on hand.

Katykat

I have carried out an EPA for over 2 yrs now & am not aware of any supervision. Can this supervision be done without my knowing it? Does COP have the right to investigate my own bank details? I'm not averse to any investigations, I just want to be informed.

Errata

I think the supervision is supervision of the people the COP has appointed as deputies. not the supervision of someone a person has agreed will be their attorney.

Katykat

So, is misslawbore wrong then to say that even old style EPA are subject to supervision? I'd like to get it verified because not only do I have a registered EPA for my mother, but my OH has an unregistered as yet EPA for his mother & also we have both made our children EPA's . I dont like the idea of my kids affairs being investigated.