Executor with Dementia

dibdabable

My Dad has dementia and is the sole executor of my mum's Will. Unfortunately after brief illness Mum has very little time left with us and we were talking a few things over and wondering what we do.
Dad's dementia is very bad and he needs help with everything, at times he can hardly string a sentence together.
What would the process be to substituting one executor for another. Thanks

Alikay

If your mum is still capable mentally and physically of changing her will, you can change executors by adding a codicil to her existing will. It's really easy to do yourself, and you can get the wording and witnessing info from various sites on the internet. If there are other amendments it might be better to have a new will done though.

Just type it up on the computer and get your mum to sign it and have it properly witnessed by two witnesses, then keep it with the will.

dibdabable

No sadly Mum is beyond that now, but thanks for the response.

troubleinparadise

I'm sorry to hear of your sad situation with your Mum.

Your best course of action is to contact the Probate Registry for their guidance.

This link will take you to a list of the offices:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/probate

Is there an EPA or LPA in place for your father, perhaps with a family member/s acting as attorney? If the Probate Office is satisfied with the Attorneyship, then that or those persons can be substituted for the incapacitated executor. See this link Pages 3/4 for an overview:

http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/pa02-eng.pdf

dibdabable

Thanks trouble in paradise. As with many things to do with dementia, difficult circumstances meant there is no LPA/EPA . There would be no problem getting a letter from the GP in fact I have a letter with the diagnosis from the Memory Clinic he attends, so I suppose we'd need something like that,but how do we then apply for someone else to be executor?.

troubleinparadise

Oh dear, problems are just compounding themselves...

I don't know the exact answer, but I would start by contacting the Probate Registry nearest you and asking them.

Hopefully there is a system they have that can be used, or they can point you in the right direction as to what you might need to do.

After that is the Office of the Public Guardian, whereby processes leading to a deputy being appointed for your father who lacks capacity can be put in place. But these can be lengthy. Having said that, it sounds as though you will need something along these lines for your father and his finances anyway as he now lacks the capacity to grant attorneyship to you.

https://www.gov.uk/become-deputy

dibdabable

You're right there but unfortunately Mum had Dementia too but no one but us and her GP.Hospital knew, you really couldn't have told everything she said was so plausible and she lways put a block on us taking anything like the LPA and the like out, we knew it would come to this one day.
Dad is a completely different kettle of fish and is grateful and willing to accept whatever's best for him, so we will be able to acieve that without too much problem.

I will follow up your suggestions and thanks for taking the time.

troubleinparadise

Sadly your story is all too common, and it is difficult to help without running into big battles that don't help anyone.... Dementia is a vile disease for all who have to live with it (my mum had it too).

Good luck with sorting out the financial/deputyship stuff for your Dad - you will get there!

I don't know if you've found the Alzheimer's Society website and forum, there's lots of guidance and support for all aspects of dementia there:

http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/

http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/forum.php

Goldiegirl

I had almost the same situation

My mum was the one with dementia. My dad died, and my mum was sole executor of his will.

However, she was mentally not capable at this time and I did not have Power of Attorney.

The solution was this.

I needed the authority to act for my mum for all her financial affairs. So I applied to the Public Guardianship Office, for authority to act as Receiver for my mum. Once this was granted I had the necessary legal authority for act for my mum.

Therefore, I could act for my mum as Executor for my dad's will, and then sorted out my dad's estate.

It was time consuming to get all these documents, but I did it all myself with the help of the PGO and Probate Service websites and calls to the offices of the local probate service.

You could get a solicitor to help you with all this, but if you're not worried about doing paperwork, it is easy enough to do yourself.

Hope this will be of some help - start with a phone call to the Probate office and a look at the Public Guardianship Office website.

dibdabable

Sorry haven't been able to get online much as you can imagine. Thanks this is really valuable I'll probably do this as theirs no rush to get Mum's affairs sorted out that quickly, so this will be fine.
Thanks for this.

lavalamp

If Dad is named as sole executor, he can renounce his position and you can apply for probate as next of kin as far as I am aware. Perhaps it would be best to move this post to the probate area of the forum - you may get a more comprehensive answer.

Edit: Just for clarity - I mean renounce at the time probate is needed, not now - if the executor cannot fulfil their responsibility, they are not expected to do it.