Greedy baby boomers lead rise in fraud against vulnerable parents

chewmylegoff

PasturesNew wrote: »

Having had PoA, it's shocking how easy it is to then simply empty the bank account, spend all the money on what you want and not even think about being caught.

You only get caught if you run out of money .... and/or if another person in the family thinks there's lots of money missing and says "Oi ....", e.g. a sibling who expected to inherit something and doesn't get a bean.

Nobody audits the bank statements of the person you have PoA over. Nobody points to the 6 bookings with Thomson Holidays at £10k/time and asks "what's that? I don't think a 90 year old in a care home needed to spend that"

There are no bank triggers.

That is the whole point of power of attorney - it is supposed to give another person access to an account as if they were the account holder. If someone was required to audit it the money would be bled away in professional fees.

If you don't trust people enough to give them total discretion over how your money is spent the solution is not to grant a poa and leave it to social services to get a court order to gain control of your funds, I think? Something like that anyway.

chucknorris

chewmylegoff wrote: »

That is the whole point of power of attorney - it is supposed to give another person access to an account as if they were the account holder. If someone was required to audit it the money would be bled away in professional fees.

If you don't trust people enough to give them total discretion over how your money is spent the solution is not to grant a poa and leave it to social services to get a court order to gain control of your funds, I think? Something like that anyway.

Sounds logical to me

Mojisola

chewmylegoff wrote: »

That is the whole point of power of attorney - it is supposed to give another person access to an account as if they were the account holder. If someone was required to audit it the money would be bled away in professional fees.

It could be a one-off event that occurs when the person dies. Knowing that they will have to account for their stewardship would keep more attorneys on the straight and narrow.

chucknorris

Mojisola wrote: »

It could be a one-off event that occurs when the person dies. Knowing that they will have to account for their stewardship would keep more attorneys on the straight and narrow.

Perhaps, but surely in most cases, he is correct. By the way I think when I die, it will certainly be 'a one off event', I hope so anyway (once is bad enough without a repeat performance).

chewmylegoff

Mojisola wrote: »

It could be a one-off event that occurs when the person dies. Knowing that they will have to account for their stewardship would keep more attorneys on the straight and narrow.

Or they just take the money anyway and move to Brazil or Russia or whatever.

I expect if you want to spent your money on professional fees instead of yourself you can always appoint reputable solicitors (an oxymoron I konw) and give them power of attorney and instruct them how to spend the money in the event you lack capacity to do so yourself. They will probably do it properly and charge you even more than an auditor would.

Mojisola

Mojisola wrote: »

It could be a one-off event that occurs when the person dies. Knowing that they will have to account for their stewardship would keep more attorneys on the straight and narrow.

chucknorris wrote: »

Perhaps, but surely in most cases, he is correct. By the way I think when I die, it will certainly be 'a one off event', I hope so anyway (once is bad enough without a repeat performance).

The 'one-off event' referred to the financial records being checked, rather than, say, an annual audit.

chucknorris

Mojisola wrote: »

The 'one-off event' referred to the financial records being checked, rather than, say, an annual audit.

Obviously I knew that, don't they have humour where you come from?

System

chucknorris wrote: »

Obviously I knew that, don't they have humour where you come from?

As in Lord Palmerston's famous last words;

"Die, my dear doctor? That's the last thing I'll do!"

chucknorris

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

As in Lord Palmerston's famous last words;

"Die, my dear doctor? That's the last thing I'll do!"

The two epitaphs I like best are:

I told you I was ill (Spike Milligan)
That's all, folks! (Mel Blank, reference to his Loony Tunes work)

cavework

I'm a 'baby boomer'..born 1960.. kids have now left home but now Mum aged 90 lives with us.. (think there was about a one year gap)
I work , always have and OH is retired as he is 67 .. no carers allowance but he paid into a private pension which now pays an annuity.
We pay a mortgage
So can I ask? when you 'baby boomer' hit squad get to my age ..will you be willing to become one of the sandwich generation and look after your elderly parents?
By then I think many will be living to at least 125.. I really wish I could see the posts from you on here in 20 plus years time.