Court of Protection Deputy

Kansas

Wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this....

Last February, my sister was discovered at the bottom of the stairs of her flat with a fractured skull, several broken ribs and both collar bones broken. It had been a number of hours before she was discovered and she was taken to our local A&E and then transferred to the nearest large hospital for intensive care. She had suffered a very serious brain injury and was in a Coma for several weeks. We were told to expect the worst.

She did eventually regain consciousness, but the injuries have left her paralysed down one side and unable to speak or communicate in any way. She spent around 6 months in Hospital and is now in a local care home.

During the 6 months her boyfriend cleared out the flat and we have no idea what he did with any of her paperwork, bank statements, benefit paperwork etc and we are unable to contact him as he seems to have left the area.

The local council have written to me to ask me to provide financial information. I explained the only information I have is her bank account details and nothing else, but they insist they need to see documentation.

I'm very certain my sister doesn't have any money, as she never worked and had a rather chaotic lifestyle shall we say.

My question to the lady at the council was, well what if I don't (because I can't) provide you with this information.....she said I need to apply to be a deputy through the court of protection....the thing is I don't really want to spend several hundred pounds just to tell them that she hasn't got any money!

Even if I did apply to be a deputy, I understand this process can take a long time so I still would not be able to provide them with any information for a number of months!

She still could not say what would happen if they fail to get the information.....what can they do? surely they cannot throw my sister out into the street?!

Thanks
Kansas

elsien

No they won't throw your sister out. They would have to fund till they've got the financial information then bill in retrospect if she did owe anything.
Neither do you have to apply to be deputy if you don't want to. If the local authority think she has assets that need taking into consideration they can request a deputyship themselves via a paid service. They're just trying to pass the buck.
However in the interim you or a family member could apply to be an appointee for benefits which might allow you to get some backdated info from DWP.
But to access bank accounts it would have to be a deputyship so it depends how likely it is that she had savings etc. Was she on housing benefit, do you know, as that would indicate that she was low income?
ETA - the lower savings limit is £14250 then on a sliding scale so she wouldn't be fully self funding unless her savings were over 23K , so if you're pretty sure she'd have less than that the deputyship really isn't worth doing because there's ongoing fees each year as well as the initial cost.


Does she have nursing needs and has she had a CHC Health funding assessment?

Kansas

Thanks for such a quick response.

I've recently applied to be her DWP appointee in order to try and claim some PIP money for her.

Yes she was on housing benefit and lived in rented flat. She has had the CHC assessment, and basically requires around the clock care....she cannot do anything for herself..

Thanks

elsien

If she's getting health funding then she will be paid for so the means testing is irrelevant anyway.

Kansas

As I understand it she's jointly funded 50/50 by the NHS and the Local Authority....