Power of Attorney

FreeBear

securityguy wrote: »

3. You cannot do anything with your mother's other financial commitments, such as cashing in savings, without a power of attorney. You don't say how the care is being funded, bit if it's the council they'll want to assess her assets, and if it's not, you're going to need to work to maintain that current stream of income.

This reminds me of another reason for LPA - If the council decide they want control of the mother's assets, they can go to the Court of Protection and get an order to handle her affairs. Then, each time the council want to make a decision, they troy off to court to get it rubber stamped. In the process, legal expenses are racked up which then get charged to the mother.

securityguy

getmore4less wrote: »

A standard POA only active/valid while the giver has capacity.

For most people in discussions about elderly parents, "power of attorney" means "lasting/enduring power of attorney", and I suspect that if you told many people that there were other sorts of powers of attorney they'd look at you blankly. Yes, there are the other sort of powers of attorney that are used if, for example, you are travelling abroad, but the sort that elderly parents make in favour of their children are almost always lasting (historically, enduring).

securityguy

FreeBear wrote: »

This reminds me of another reason for LPA - If the council decide they want control of the mother's assets, they can go to the Court of Protection and get an order to handle her affairs. Then, each time the council want to make a decision, they troy off to court to get it rubber stamped. In the process, legal expenses are racked up which then get charged to the mother.

I didn't know that, although it makes perfect sense.

I cannot stress enough, having watched my father (extremely competent with legal paperwork)) wrestle with a court of protection order for his mother in law, just how tricky and complex CoP orders are. Anything you can do to avoid one is a good thing.

tommytynan123

(My login name seems to be varying between tt123 and tiger305?)
Thanks all. Blimey!
1. At present Mum is in nursing home under a ''step-down bed arrangement'' from hospital. It's designed to free up hospital beds and funded by NHS. We have another 4 weeks minimum before the nursing home may call a finance meeting.
2. She has about £60K in current/savings accounts all with the same High St bank. Not certain about her monthly income but with her pensions and late fathers pensions I would say approaching £2K pcm. Outgoings are utilities for a bungalow + food etc.
3. I would be delighted if Mum lasts another 4 months. Its not the confusion that is the major illness. The major illness and medication is causing the confusion. Thus my comments about having the ability, if required, to pay nursing home fees from her bank. But I suppose if Mum was to complete a DD form now, with a caveat about ??, then that's the fees sorted for at least 3 years if you compare ingoings and outgoings.
4. The care costs will never eat up all her cash, barring a miracle, and then I assume it would be the normal procedure post-death of sorting the will which doesn't need any POA etc.
Thanks

Yorkshireman99

AIUI if she requires nursing care then that is an NHS responsibility. However the rules seem complex and are not consistently applied. You need to investigate to make sure your mother is not overcharged.

FreeBear

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

AIUI if she requires nursing care then that is an NHS responsibility. However the rules seem complex and are not consistently applied. You need to investigate to make sure your mother is not overcharged.

A clinical assessment should be conducted in the first place to establish what level of care is required. Only then should a financial assessment be done.

What many local authorities fail to do is to engage in the clinical assessment and jump in with the financial - Totally wrong and exposes them to litigation by the family to reclaim the care costs. However, in the OP's case, it sounds like the clinical assessment may have been done - Just make sure the care needs are reassessed if a financial assessment is done.

TBagpuss

I'm sorry to hear she is so unwell. I don't know how certain the prognosis is - if there is any doubt about her life expectance then it may stil be sensible to talk to her about LPAs, and in any event to have a conversation with her about her wishes regarding ongoing treatment.

Financially, you could look at whether it would make sense for you to fill in the forms to set up a direct debit for our mum to sign, for the payment of the nusring home fees (if they home is set up to do that) or alternatively to set up a new account in you and your sister's joint names, and for your mum to write a cherque to transfer dsome money into that account, with a view to you and your sister then being able to pay for things such as the nursing home fees from that account.

To ensure that eveything is clear an above board you may wish to have a letter which you your sister and mum can all sign, confirming that you agree to use the money solely for her benefit, to akeep records of how it is used and to repay any balance to her on request or to her estate upon her death.

Hwever, this would only be a short term arangemwtn iI would not recommend it unless you are confident that you and your sister are, and will remain, on good terms and each trusts the other to only use such an account as agreed.