Power of attorney unlawfully spending money?!

weston800

xylophone said:

Then this applies?

If you think that theft has taken place, then by all means you should report this to the police.
Our jurisdiction has ended but if you have evidence to show that funds have been misspent, you have up to 2 years from the end of the deputyship to apply to the Court of Protection to have the security bond called in.  The security bond is similar to insurance. Deputies usually have to take this out as a condition of the Court Order. Please see this link from the Gov.uk website for further information https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-guardian-practice-note-surety-bonds

Are you prepared to approach the Police?

Yes if it comes to it but I only want to do this once COVID-19 has settled and it would be an absolute last resort.

tooldle

Sorry i wasn't clear, i was thinking that some of the transactions could be gifts, as you mentioned Jacamo and the deputy being male. 28 transactions in one day to the same retailer sounds very odd. Are you sure there was not something else going on, perhaps fraud on the account not necessarily involving the deputies? With that many transactions I would expect the bank to be asking questions as a minimum. 
I tend to withdraw cash in batches of £200 for mum, usually two lots at a time, one each for me and the care home. When paying cash for anything involving mum I get a receipt to demonstrate how the money was used. If the deputies have submitted accounts in the past couple of years, would receipts have been included in the submission?
I've experienced a similar problem with a sibling taking monies from mum. I approached by asking if they could help, saying a third party had flagged a concern about misuse of mums monies and irregular escalating cash consumption. My thinking was it's less confrontational, and gives room for the person to present evidence of their innocence (if indeed they are). 
Another way to approach this might be to ask the home if they held cash on account for the resident. If they do they also keep a log of all cash transactions i.e. hair dresser, chiropodist, nails etc. How much of the cash if any can be accounted for?
My mum is terrible for telling people that she will contribute to something, or to take some cash for your holiday / a few beers / a good meal out / buy the kids some shoes etc. A deputy should know not to do this, but if it is not out of character for the person to make these gestures, some deputies might perhaps think that its ok to accept?

fred246

I went through all this sort of stuff with my parents. The government need to protect the old person with dementia and if they are in a care home I think the staff there alert the authorities if there are any safeguarding issues. So they are seen as safe. The Government are also very interested in anything that affects public finance eg if you said she has now run out of money the council has to pay. Then they would want to see the finances. This is seen as a squabble within the family and something that the family has to sort out. If you pay lawyers then normally the lawyers win and everyone loses out. You may be able to take it to the small claims court yourself quite cheaply and sometimes the threat is beneficial. The person who needed protecting is dead and the family are left to squabble amongst themselves.

Malthusian

Covid will be a fact of life for years. If you are going to call the police or apply to call in the bond I would do it now. The worst case scenario is that your case just sits there until lockdown is lifted. If you wait until after Covid you will be met with a litany of "we're still dealing with the Covid backlog".

You will need professional legal advice to pursue the deputies or the insurer. If you couldn't afford to contest the deputyship in the first place will you have the funds to pursue them now?

Is the surety bond even still in force now that the deputyship has ended?

Manxman_in_exile

Malthusian said:

Covid will be a fact of life for years. If you are going to call the police or apply to call in the bond I would do it now. The worst case scenario is that your case just sits there until lockdown is lifted. If you wait until after Covid you will be met with a litany of "we're still dealing with the Covid backlog".

You will need professional legal advice to pursue the deputies or the insurer. If you couldn't afford to contest the deputyship in the first place will you have the funds to pursue them now?

Is the surety bond even still in force now that the deputyship has ended?

If I understand Annex A correctly in the link given, the bond remains in force for two years after the death of the person in respect of whom the deputies were appointed.