Helping Mums Wishes

Daughter1

What does LA stand for and yes my sister has power of attorney for our mum as she lives with her, but any major decisions we would always make together. So with gifting is there a maximum she can gift at Xmas and birthdays is it £3k per year per person? We accept she will now ha e to pay for her care and realise dad was doing what he thought was best for her

Daughter1

Yes we already have stair lift and wet room. No I will get nothing and the reason my sister will get the house is she has sacrificed so much to care for both of our parents. Whilst she will be mortgage free at a reasonable young age I have a husband and children so totally feel what she sacrificed caring for them (her choice to stay living with them) she at least deserves this. I think in hindsight my dad would have wanted to make sure something was left to me and my sister rather than it all being used on care. It’s a shame he worked so hard paying his Texas and national insurance for it to go back to them. Of course mum will be comfortable and got forbid my sister should become ill then yes we would have to look at care in the interim but the only way my mum would go into a home was if she had dementia like our father and didn’t really understand it. It was the hardest thing for us to put dad into a home but as well as him needing more care, he was more aggressive and kept trying to walk and falling lots so it was the best thing for him. :T

Yorkshireman99

LA means the local authority i.e. the local cuncil responsible for health care. There is NO £3K limit. Under a power of attorney there is no set limit for gifts but they should be no more than had been made in the past. Anything more than a token amount of say £25 per person would not be permissible. The sister who has power of attorney needs to read the rules she agreed to when appointed and follow them. If she has been paying large sums of money as you have suggested then she is laible to repay them to her mother.

Keep_pedalling

Daughter1 wrote: »

What does LA stand for and yes my sister has power of attorney for our mum as she lives with her, but any major decisions we would always make together. So with gifting is there a maximum she can gift at Xmas and birthdays is it £3k per year per person? We accept she will now ha e to pay for her care and realise dad was doing what he thought was best for her

No, that would be well beyond the authority of an attorney. There is no set amount but it should not exceed her historic gifting. So if in the past she has been giving gifts averaging £30 per person then it would be reasonable to continue gifting at that sort of level, in other words there should be no dramatic increase in her expenditure other than for items purchased for her own benefit alone.

You need to get this £3000 out of your head, as has already been said that figure is associated with IHT limits, and anyway it is £3000 in total not per person.

troubleinparadise

An attorney “acts in the best interests of the donor”.

The best interests of the donor are to have their assets preserved for them, spent on their needs, not to give them away.

An attorney should not benefit themselves from their activities as an attorney - that is, they should not gift the donor’s money to themselves.

The attorney can make gifts in keeping with the donor’s previous amount of gifts, perhaps on birthdays and Christmas, and taking into account the donor’s assets. For instance, a millionaire could make greater gifts than a person with only a few thousand pounds in the bank. What might your Mum have given in the past - £25, £50, £100? I suggest it probably didn’t run into the thousands level, so the Attorney can’t start handing out those sorts of sums.

Your mother’s estate will not exceed the Inheritance Tax (IHT) threshold - in her case, £650,000 at today’s rate - so there is no need to try to reduce her exposure to IHT by the allowed £3,000 annual gift allowance. Please forget about the £3,000 that you have heard of - it doesn’t apply to your mother’s situation.

It sounds as though your mother has some diagnosis that means she needs care and an attorney for her financial affairs. I hope that keeping her at home with your sister’s care will be all she needs. But should things change and she needs additional carer visits or residential care it may be that her present funds run short. A financial assessment will be done, and it will be seen if the attorney has gifted her funds. Please ask your sister to read up on her powers and responsibilities as attorney, and don’t be tempted to gift Mum’s money. It could be viewed as stealing and abuse of attorneyship.

It may be that your Mum’s money is never needed for care, and it outlasts her; given your family’s determination to care for her at home that could happen. That way you might all have a pleasant windfall without need to contravene any rules.

getmore4less

Daughter1 wrote: »

What does LA stand for and yes my sister has power of attorney for our mum as she lives with her, but any major decisions we would always make together. So with gifting is there a maximum she can gift at Xmas and birthdays is it £3k per year per person? We accept she will now ha e to pay for her care and realise dad was doing what he thought was best for her

Does your mother still have capacity?

Mojisola

Daughter1 wrote: »

We have promised she won't go into care and if my sister needs to later on she will give up work to care for our mum

(she did this for 3 years with our dad before it became too much for her and it was clear he needed more. He had severe dementia and mobility issues and had become aggressive)

Why on earth would you make a promise like that when you've already been through it with Dad and seen that residential care is sometimes the best thing for the person who needs care?

Yorkshireman99

It is still no excuse for plundering her bank account which is what seems to have happened and contiues to happen.

Margot123

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

It is still no excuse for plundering her bank account which is what seems to have happened and contiues to happen.

Time and time again this happens, and people come on here and talk as though they are doing it for the vulnerable person and not themselves.

Daughter1

I'm not sure where you get that we have "plundered"her bank account so please don't be disrespectful