Urgent Court of Protection Application help please - worried

Lozz

Hi pmlindyloo,

They are the people I contacted about this, however everytime I asked to speak to an urgent business officer they wouldn't put me through as I didn't have a case number. Basically I got told to email in the application which I did, and their response was:-

Thank you for your email. I'm afraid that the content of the application is not sufficiently urgent to warrant the attention of the Urgent Business Officer (Urgent Business is essentially 'life and death' or the possibility of immediate financial loss). Also contrary to the guidance on the web, the Court cannot accept payment by credit/debit card. You will need to send your application in the post with either a cheque or postal order made payable to HMCTS.

I have replied pointing out that considering my mum's consultant has confirmed that she has weeks possibly months left to live I would have thought this was 'life or death' but got an out of office reply.

Lozz x

irishjohn

Hi Lozz
Do you have your mum's debit card for her current account?

You could pay bills by phone using the debit card, and you could do some mail order for clothing etc again using the debit card.

Savvy_Sue

irishjohn wrote: »

Hi Lozz
Do you have your mum's debit card for her current account?

You could pay bills by phone using the debit card, and you could do some mail order for clothing etc again using the debit card.

That sounds like a plan: you could also order nightwear online, as long as either the sites you use will accept a different delivery address, or you can get someone to your mum's address to accept delivery (realise that's likely to be difficult!) Or places like M&S will let you order online and collect instore.

The only possible difficulty with this is if the bank realises that your mother is dying / no longer has capacity, and freezes the account. But in that case, you have to accept, IMO, that while your mother wouldn't want to be in debt, there's not really a lot to be done about it!

BTW, even though that £90 is going to go out for payment protection, I would write and ask them to cancel it, with a letter from the consultant if possible. My mother failed to cancel a DD for card payment protection from what had been a joint account with my late father, and we managed to get it back again once we had established that the policy wasn't valid because he'd died a year earlier. By writing now, you may increase your chances of getting it back if she dies before having had much benefit from it, if that makes sense.

Sending more hugs. Hope the complex case manager and palliative care nurse are proving helpful.

Lozz

Hi Irishjohn and Sue,

I do have my mum's debit card and I have also known her pin number for several years, I just don't want to do anything that might get me into trouble. I don't think the bank will be made aware that mum is dying, but do they ask questions afterwards?

Thanks to your advice Sue I have written today to a couple of companies asking them to stop supplying services and have written to the CC company asking them not to renew the payment protection as obviously mum doesnt need it anymore, hopefully they will listen.And thank you for the hugs, I really appreciate them right now xx


I just find it unbelievable that the COP would rather her funds just mount up in her account, rather than make her life more comfortable now. I am her only child and she is a widow, I dont want to inherit the excess funds that could be used now to make her life more comfortable

irishjohn

Hi Lozz
You will not get into any trouble if you are using your mum's card to get hold of her money to supply her needs and pay her bills - just keep a little notebook of everything and keep receipts - you are simply acting on her behalf when she cannot act for herself. And finding a way around rules that have to be in place to protect people but which make life difficult for carers who find themselves in this situation, and I speak from experience.

Lozz

Hi John,

Thanks for that, I agree they don't make it easy in situations like this. I am going to do what you suggest, I know my mum wouldn't want us to struggle like this and equally I'm certainly not going to see her going without the things she needs to make her as comfortable as possible.

Many thanks for all your advice everyone, I really appreciate it.

Lozz xxx

Savvy_Sue

My only concern is that if you've tried to speak to the bank where she holds her personal account and you've said "look, I need to access her funds / stop this payment going out, no you can't speak to her yourself because she's in hospital and not capable of speaking on the phone or signing anything" then there is a faint possibility that someone will think "hang on a minute, we need to freeze this account". But until they do ...

And technically, you shouldn't be using her debit card, and if any fraud is committed then you might have a hard job persuading the bank that it was fraudulent, but under the circumstances it's what I'd do, and I'm not one for bending the rules - I changed my PIN when I realised DH knew it, and it's a joint account! :rotfl:

The other thing I have done and would do again is phone up and give my mother's name and details - effectively pretend to be her - in order to do something, because my mother is extremely deaf and cannot use a phone, and sometimes it's just simpler to do that than go through the charade of them asking her for permission to speak to me!

I would, in your position, avoid withdrawing cash unless I absolutely had to, because it is so much harder to keep track of where cash has gone. But if you DO have to, then as John says, keep the receipts for everything.

As an only child, it's vanishingly unlikely that anyone is going to challenge your use of your Mum's money, and if you know you're her only beneficiary then you absolutely should do what you think best.

We'll keep the virtual hugs coming ...

Lozz

Lol Sue, I didn't think much could get me laughing at the moment but you just managed it, thank you. We all in this family know each other's pin numbers I've been having to get cash out for my mum for at least 4 years since she had a stroke.

The only way I can acccess mum's funds is through cash but I'm keeping records as John said and keeping all receipts etc. I haven't contacted the bank just things like Barclaycard to stop the payment protection and this hopsital plan thingy that looks like an absolute con at best. I am keeping receipts for everything though and there is nobody to challenge me personally, I was just worried how the law would see it. But I just actually don't care anymore, I'm going to provide my mum with what she needs for as long as I can and as long as she needs it.

And thank you for the virtual hugs, they are well needed and welcome xxx

Lozz xxx

NeverEnough

Thinking of you and your mum, Lozz, hope the complex care manager and palliative care nurse have been able to help. Your mum is fortunate to have your care and support in this terminal illness.

BlondBoy

Lozz wrote: »

But I just actually don't care anymore, I'm going to provide my mum with what she needs for as long as I can and as long as she needs it.

Good on you Lozz, Your mum's lucky to have you.

Just popped back to the thread to see how you were doing. Stay strong - you're doing an amazing job.




Chris