Suspicious

porkypig1

Hiya
My wifes aunt, unfortunately passed away yesterday. She was 85 and unknown to us she had been in hospital for two weeks. It now appears that a 'friend' was Power of Attorney, financial & health. This has come as a shock to my elderly father in law and his other sister. This married guy was her late husbands colleague and was regularly round tending to this and that and we all thought it a wee bit strange, but hey ho she seemed ok. Her estate is substantial and it looks very iffy. POA ends at death and he has taken Death Certificate, her personal effects from the hospital (handbag etc) and key to her home. My wifes other aunt has asked for it but he gives stupid excuses not to hand it over. She wants photos and mementoes that belonged to her parents as the late sister was 'frugal' and didnt have anything valuable in there anyway. This stranger has initiated funeral arrangements and has told the undertaker he has 'gone above and beyond legally with a solicitor'. The undertaker is suspicious too and said he is contacting the solicitor as, obviously the family want to organise her funeral. We also believe this stranger is executor and most likely beneficiary. We are perplexed and my father in law asked his late sister, before Christmas, if she had signed anything such as POA and she said no he was just an executor. We believe he may have taken advantage of a vunerable geriatric as he will not acknowledge a will and avoids contact. This stranger knew the aunt had gone into hospital with a chest infection but did not inform the family until 2 weeks later, 36 hours before she died. Her sister and brother just assumed she hadnt returned calls. If this guy was transparent then why is he avoiding the family and how or why was he POA, when she had family nearby, who were missed off the contacts from POA application (my wife is her mothers POA). I suppose I'm asking that my father-in-law wants to post a caveat to halt probate but he doesnt have a lot of money and after that, what costs are incurred. If her will says she wants to leave it to charity/friends or whoever the family are happy with that, but are deeply suspicious of this guys motives. Any ideas on my F-I-L next step?

chesky

Is there a will?
Does the solicitor have the will?
Who is the executor?
Sounds as though the friend was in closer contact than the family.

paddy's_mum

I don't quite understand how the reader can reconcile your allegation that he is a stranger with the comment "regularly round tending to this and that"?

tensandunits_2

porkypig1 wrote: »

Hiya
My wifes aunt, unfortunately passed away yesterday. She was 85 and unknown to us she had been in hospital for two weeks. It now appears that a 'friend' was Power of Attorney, financial & health.

This has come as a shock to my elderly father in law and his other sister. This married guy was her late husbands colleague and was regularly round tending to this and that and we all thought it a wee bit strange, but hey ho she seemed ok.

Her estate is substantial and it looks very iffy. POA ends at death and he has taken Death Certificate, her personal effects from the hospital (handbag etc) and key to her home. My wifes other aunt has asked for it but he gives stupid excuses not to hand it over. She wants photos and mementoes that belonged to her parents as the late sister was 'frugal' and didnt have anything valuable in there anyway.

This stranger has initiated funeral arrangements and has told the undertaker he has 'gone above and beyond legally with a solicitor'. The undertaker is suspicious too and said he is contacting the solicitor as, obviously the family want to organise her funeral. We also believe this stranger is executor and most likely beneficiary.

We are perplexed and my father in law asked his late sister, before Christmas, if she had signed anything such as POA and she said no he was just an executor. We believe he may have taken advantage of a vunerable geriatric as he will not acknowledge a will and avoids contact. This stranger knew the aunt had gone into hospital with a chest infection but did not inform the family until 2 weeks later, 36 hours before she died.

Her sister and brother just assumed she hadnt returned calls. If this guy was transparent then why is he avoiding the family and how or why was he POA, when she had family nearby, who were missed off the contacts from POA application (my wife is her mothers POA).

I suppose I'm asking that my father-in-law wants to post a caveat to halt probate but he doesnt have a lot of money and after that, what costs are incurred. If her will says she wants to leave it to charity/friends or whoever the family are happy with that, but are deeply suspicious of this guys motives. Any ideas on my F-I-L next step?

I find the b.i.b. rather odd.

Hope you don't mind me splitting your post into paragraphs, it makes it a bit easier to read.

porkypig1

Correct my grammar by all means.
He is a stranger to the family, who had no idea he was Power of Attorney.
The family weren't estranged and don't know why this stranger tried to organise the funeral.
We assume the will is with the solicitor and that this guy is the executor, but he refuses to tell my elderly father in law anything and won't give him the key for her home.
Yes he probably had a lot more contact with her and that raises suspicions.
Snidey comments aren't helpful
The undertaker was unaware of family.

troubleinparadise

It is perfectly possible that they might have been in a friendship or possibly a relationship, but that the aunt decided not to confide in family members about it.

Despite their advancing years, it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that she welcomed and enjoyed this gentleman's company and help around the house after losing her husband, and therefore making him POA or executor might have seemed perfectly natural to her.

I appreciate that his secrecy and lack of communication feels uncomfortable - have you thought about meeting up with him face to face to find out what is going on? You say he is married - was his wife involved in helping out with Aunt, or was it only ever him? Perhaps she can throw more light on the situation?

Yorkshireman99

porkypig1 wrote: »

Correct my grammar by all means.
He is a stranger to the family, who had no idea he was Power of Attorney.
The family weren't estranged and don't know why this stranger tried to organise the funeral.
We assume the will is with the solicitor and that this guy is the executor, but he refuses to tell my elderly father in law anything and won't give him the key for her home.
Yes he probably had a lot more contact with her and that raises suspicions.
Snidey comments aren't helpful
The undertaker was unaware of family.

This does not sound correct. A power of attorney cannot be appointed without their knowledge and consent. In any case an application for an LPOA gets notified to close relatives before it is issued.

TBagpuss

If he is the executor then he has a legal duty to preserve any assets so locking the house is correct, as it taking the death certificate (which he will need to start the process of obtaining probate and administering the estate). It may be that it would have been better / kinder for him to have spoken with your other aunt and your father about personal items, but it is not inherently unreasonable for him to refuse to hand over a house key, at least until he has (if he is the executor) taken initial steps to ascertain what is in the house and to secure any valuables.

Is it possible that he is simply a close friend and that he is grieving the loss of his friend, and therefore not managing things as tactfully as he might otherwise do? He may also feel that the family were not around much and (whether or not that is correct) it may colour his attitude.

Mental capacity is specifically considered when someone grants a POA, as you need to understand what you are doing.

securityguy

"In any case an application for an LPOA gets notified to close relatives before it is issued."

That's not right, I'm afraid. When you complete the forms for a POA you list the people you wish to be informed when the trigger is pulled on the POA due to loss of capacity. You can if you wish leave that empty, or put in only friends, or whatever. In that case, your family won't be informed. As is right and proper: it would invidious if (say) parents completely estranged from abusive children could have PoAs overridden by those children. If someone who is of ostensibly sound mind writes a PoA which makes no mention of family, then that's the end of it: the family won't be told.

From the forms, Section 6: "People to notify when the LPA is registered This section is optional
You can let people know that you’re going to register your LPA. They can raise any concerns they have about the LPA – for example, if there was any pressure or fraud in making it."

Yorkshireman99

Thanks for correcting me. Do you agree the attorney can't be appointed without their knowledge and consent, anlike an executor?

Mr.Generous

It is the executors job to arrange the funeral too.