Mum becoming homeless due to frozen account.

Pugsley_Heckford

Hi and yes I have asked if they can defer payment. Because it is recommended she go into a supported flat and not residential care my mum should be self funding because the house is over 46 K and half of that is over 23K which makes her self funding. It is just she cannot access any of the monies and my dad may need to go back into the house.

Pugsley_Heckford

Yes the point is we cannot access if he is or is not competent as his infection could be affecting his decision making. They will not test capacity until he is medically fit.

Socajam

Pugsley_Heckford wrote: »

Hi the bank have frozen the account because mum has told them that they are separating and wanted to make sure dad had an equal amount of money! Because the bank have now been informed they are protecting the interests of both parties but That means neither party can access any funds. My dad is not considered medically fit and so cannot be assessed.

That's your problem right there, too much information at the wrong time. Some times we are too honest and it comes back and bite us
It's in the past, but if someone is reading this, hopefully they will learn something from it. What your mom should have done was to withdraw her money and left your Dad's portion in the joint account.
Get some legal advice maybe from the CAB or an organization that deals with the elderly.

Pugsley_Heckford

Thank you,

the hospital social worker has been off for 3 weeks and is quite vague and busy. I live in a different area and cannot get a social worker until mum has an address other than hospital e.g. a flat.

Pugsley_Heckford

Yes that was the problem exactly. My brother took her from the hospital to the bank in her wheelchair and mum wanted to do the "right thing". Never dreaming this would happen. Yes I would strongly urge anyone with a bank account make sure you sort yourself out financially before you close/change the account. I would also urge everyone of an age to make sure you give power of attorney before you become older and more unfit. I have urged them for a number of years to do this but they decided against it.

Ben8282

Pugsley_Heckford wrote: »

Hi unfortunately we cannot get POA as my dad cannot even be assessed for capacity until he is medically fit and they do not know if that will ever happen. So we are in limbo.

If your mum has been talking to the bank from her hospital bed and has told them that she has split with her husband and has managed to open a new account for herself from her hospital bed and have her pensions transferred, then you hardly need a POA in respect of her at the moment as she clearly retains capacity and her problems are physical rather than mental. She must have done this all herself as you have no POA.
Being confined to a wheelchair should not, in itself, prevent your mum from returning to her house as modifications can be made.
How exactly has your evil dad communicated to you and his wife that he has split up with her. He is apparently too ill even to be assessed as to capacity. You don't seem at all concerned by your dad's almost unbelievable decision to leave his sick wife at this time or be displaying any concern at what is going to happen to him in the future and instead seem to believe this this individual too sick to be assessed as to capacity will simply be returning to live alone in the house without his wife. If there is currently a question as to his capacity, then obviously he must be currently suffering from some severe cognitive impairment so why do you believe he will recover sufficiently (mentally not physically) to be able to return to live alone in the house and that his decision to split up with your mum, obviously taken while suffering from this cognitive impairment, is genuine?
What have social services been saying about all this?????

Mojisola

Robin9 wrote: »

Isn't one of the requirements of a joint account that both parties should be capable - from what you say your Dad isn't

It was hearing of a case like this that prompted us to get POAs for each other a good few years ago.

In that instance, the main breadwinner was in a coma and the bank froze the joint account to protect his interests.

Pugsley_Heckford

OO thank you for this. The social worker told us in an emergency mum may be able to go into respite care but only for 2 weeks and she would need to pay for it. The 6 weeks is interesting. I don't know if we would get sorted in 6 weeks but it would help.

elsien

Pugsley_Heckford wrote: »

Thank you,

the hospital social worker has been off for 3 weeks and is quite vague and busy. I live in a different area and cannot get a social worker until mum has an address other than hospital e.g. a flat.

That's not right. The hospital social worker is responsible until mum leaves hospital then she would be allocated to a community social worker. The hospital SW should be doing more to support in this situation.

Btw, medically fit does not mean well/fit to be discharged. It means stable, so thinking that your dad is never going to be well enough to be assessed isn't the case. But because deputyship (if needed) is a long drawn out process with cost implications, it does make sense delay the decision to wait and see what happens. Which doesn't help your mum, though.
The hospital aren't going to want her to be a delayed discharge so go back to the SW and put the ball in their court. It can't be the first time they've come across this. Have they taken into account with the financial assessment that dad may return home in which case the house may need to be disregarded, depending on his age.?

Contact Age Uk and have a look at their fact sheets. Has mum had a Care Act assessment of her needs? If not, she should have. She may also qualify for advocacy support which could help her to challenge how she has been assessed if necessary.

Pugsley_Heckford

Hi my brother took mum in her wheelchair to open the account and to the bank. She has used the phone to change her details. She cannot go back to the house as she cannot get in it or move around the house due to the layout and her physical deterioration. Dad split up with her in hospital before a secondary infection set in and he did it face to face as mum had been asking people to wheel her up.
We don't know what need dad will have and the doctors can't give any answers. Dad is also abusive but mum has always stood by him. He does not want anything to do with me or my brother. We do not know what type of care he will need but want to make sure he has funds to make choices.