Money taken

RP77

My mother passed away last September and after going through her bank statements I've discovered that a considerable amount has been taken from her account over quite a long period
My Mum suffered from many different things which meant that she was house bound for many years and so had authorised her partner to have a debit card for her account so if she ever needed any money he could withdraw it for her.
As executor I went through my my Mum's bank statements as I was filing in the return of estate information form and discovered that since 2011 my Mum's partner had been withdrawing £1000.00 pretty much every month, sometimes £1500 and £2000 was taken one month. For the last 18 months of her life she was in a care home and money was still being taken during this time.
My Mum had no real outgoings and certainly would not have spent a £1000 each month! She had no debts, credit cards, mortgage etc.
My Mum's partner had been pretty useless when it came to her care and caused her to fall over on at least two occasions as he refused to get any carers in to help so knowing that he's also been helping himself makes me very angry. He mentioned to me once that my Mum didn't seem interested in her banking and it looks like he took advantage of this.
Is there anything I can do, would it be worth going to see a solicitor? I know that he was authorised by my Mum to have a card but surely he can't be allowed to get away with this.

Mojisola

RP77 wrote: »

As executor I went through my my Mum's bank statements as I was filing in the return of estate information form and discovered that since 2011 my Mum's partner had been withdrawing £1000.00 pretty much every month, sometimes £1500 and £2000 was taken one month.

For the last 18 months of her life she was in a care home and money was still being taken during this time.

Weren't the cash withdrawals queried when your Mum had her financial assessment for care done or was she self-funding?

RP77

She paid a contribution towards the cost of her care but no, the withdrawals were not queried.

Yorkshireman99

RP77 wrote: »

She paid a contribution towards the cost of her care but no, the withdrawals were not queried.

See a solicitor PDQ. It may be possible to recover the stolen money but it will not be easy.

Margot123

What is the proportion of money 'taken'; in relation to the total amount in the bank/cash?
If it is considerable, then it could be construed as theft.

However, proving the sums weren't gifts is another matter.

konark

If he had a bank card in his name for her account I don't think there's anything you can do legally other than to confront him with it and ask him to explain where all the money went.

Margot123

OP, have a Google of local solicitors who offer a free initial 20-30 minute legal advice session.

At least then you will have some idea if it's worth pursuing, and if so what evidence you will need to collate etc.

TBagpuss

Did your mum have capacity? Are you sure that she didn't give him permission to take the money?

I think the difficult thing is that if your mum's partner says he had her permission it is his word against your suspicions.