Parents with Debt and Power of Attorney

Littlepaz

Hi  I hope someone can help me
My elderly parents are in a lot of debt, credit card and have sold their house to an equity firm.
My Dad - who has always looked after the bills  - is in hospital recovering from a blood clot on the brain, but seems pretty with it  - however there's a strong likelihood he will have more blood clots. 
Despite being certified as still having mental capacity, my (very difficult) Mum (who has no professional diagnosis of learning disabilities) has no idea about paying bills and is in a world of her own, frittering her money away,  refusing to think about any bills, not answering the phone and will happily go without food for days.
She can just about work a landline phone, kettle and microwave and refuses to do anything else. as she ahs been dependent on my Dad for all her life.  A social worker is involved. 
If agree to Power of Attorney will I be responsible for their debt?
Parents refused a few years ago (they will not be told what to do) and I'm thinking of whether to suggest it again. 
I cannot afford to pay for a solicitor for myself. 
Any help would be much appreciated. 

Linton

As an Attorney under PoA you will not be personally responsible for the debts of the donor unless, I guess, debts have arisen or are not paid because you carried out your duties fraudulently or perhaps negligently.

Although it will undoubtedly be difficult there is nothing you can legally do against their wishes whilst they are regarded as having Mental Capacity, and if they arent you will need to work with the Court of Protection.   The Social Worker should be able to provide helpful advice.  Good Luck.

arielsmelody

If it was me, at this point I would be very reluctant to take on a lasting power of attorney. You would need a separate lasting powers of attorney for finance and affairs for your mother and for your father. These can be used before the person has lost mental capacity (so for example you could help look after someone's affairs if they are physically too frail to do it). You wouldn't have personal responsibility for their debts BUT with an LPA you would have a responsibility to act in their best interests. The first problem would be what if your mum/dad wanted to do something and you didn't agree - would you be able to persuade them not to do it? Also, something in your mum's best interests might not be in your dad's best interests and vice versa, so there would be a conflict there already.
At this point, I think the best you can do is to try to persuade them to let you look at the paperwork and sort it out, and help them to get straight and get bills paid, but without taking on an LPA yet.

Linton

I strongly suggest you try to get PoA ASAP whilst your parents have mental capacity to give it.  If you wait until they havent you will have to go through the Court of Protection to get PoA which will require some time.  In the meantime you would have no authority to act on their behalf which could make things very difficult.

The question of Best Interests between 2 parents I dont see as a serious issue.  The whole point of the Best Interests requirement on Attorneys is that they act in the donor's best interest rather than their own as potential benefiaries.  You should be able to show that your actions were justifiable on that basis.  It's not a question of the details of actions regarding person A or person B in the unlikely event there would be any conflict, as long as those actions were reasonable.

Littlepaz

Thanks Linton and Arielsmelody, really helpful.
Despite trying to acknowledge their right to do as they please, it is hard for me to see them merrily digging their way further into their own hole of this mess they have created, but looking at it logically, there's really nothing I can do about it. I would definitely find it hard to respect their wishes  - especially if mum's wish was to spend £50 on a hat (which she'll lose) instead of paying the gas bill or putting it by for food for the following week. I think not doing PoA would be a wise choice. Thanks again

MoneySeeker1

A dilemma indeed - particularly as one parent seems to be acting responsibly (ie your father) and one is acting totally selfishly/irresponsibly (but I expect your father won't hear a word against your mother).

My sympathies.

Littlepaz

Linton said:

I strongly suggest you try to get PoA ASAP whilst your parents have mental capacity to give it.  If you wait until they havent you will have to go through the Court of Protection to get PoA which will require some time.  In the meantime you would have no authority to act on their behalf which could make things very difficult.

The question of Best Interests between 2 parents I dont see as a serious issue.  The whole point of the Best Interests requirement on Attorneys is that they act in the donor's best interest rather than their own as potential benefiaries.  You should be able to show that your actions were justifiable on that basis.  It's not a question of the details of actions regarding person A or person B in the unlikely event there would be any conflict, as long as those actions were reasonable.

Sorry  Linton I missed this message  - thanks for the insight again. 
I need to understand the definition of best interests more, eg in the sake of the above example: mum's wish is to spend £50 on a hat (which she'll lose) instead of paying the gas bill or putting it by for food for the following week.
I know this is a petty example, but what would be defined as her best interest  - her wish would be buy the hat, my best interest would be pay the gas bill. She absolutely refuses to move from a three bedroomed hoarders house, despite her mobility problems and her bedroom/bathroom upstairs (and now Dad can't walk) so again, her wish may be to stay in the house, surely her best interests (eg safety) would be to be moved to a home?
I will do some research. 
Any of my gentle prodding about sorting bills out has been met with angry outbursts and her jumping to ridulous conclusions and to be honest, despite his poor state, Dad has been just as selfish as well really.

There has been a lot of selfish behaviour from the pair of them over the years which for the sake of brevity I'll leave for sessions with a counsellor - but I really do feel like just leaving it all to them to sort it out.  

-taff

It may be that you think it's in their best interests but I doubt they'd be happy to do so on your say so, and POA doesn't gve you the right to make them move...

badmemory

To be blunt, I think you would struggle to act in the best interests of 2 people who seem incapable of acting in their own best interests.  I doubt they would actually sign the necessary paperwork.