Stolen Inheritance

notjustamum

My grandmother passed away recently and we were surprised to find she had changed her will just before she died cutting my Aunty and her family out of it completely and applied to have my dad (her only other child) as her Power of Attorney. Nan was very well off but she left nothing. It transpired my Aunty was originally Power of Attorney and held nans chequebooks. Just before she died, Nan found out that my Aunty had cleared out her account. She went on a cruise, bought her family holidays and bought her husband a motorbike. She admitted it and said that Nan wasn’t using the money so she genuinely thought as POA she had the right to make use of it - and it was hundreds of thousands of pounds. Aunty never paid a penny towards the funeral - my dad paid for a basic funeral and he had to pay her outstanding bills out of his own pocket. A friend says this is abuse of finances and we can get copies of the cheques my Aunty wrote out. How do we go about this? My dad is devastated - mainly that his sister, who is well-off herself, could do this to their mum. I can’t afford a solicitor. Any advice?

steampowered

People who have a Power of Attorney are under a legal obligation to act in the best interests of the person who gave them the POA. As it sounds like your father is the sole beneficiary under the will, he could bring a legal claim against the Aunt for recovery of all of the money she spent on herself.

Realistically, you would need the help of a solicitor to do that. The only other option would be to approach the Aunty and ask her to at least pay the outstanding bills and funerals.

The bank may be able to provide records of the account to your dad if he gets probate.

uknick

As the aunt has committed a criminal offence, you don't need a solicitor although she may well need oine.  You report it to the police or the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).  The OPG take financial abuse of an POA very seriously and will take the appropriate action.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-6980989/How-report-abuse-complain-power-attorney.html

notjustamum

Thank you. That was the link I needed. Thanks

Malthusian

uknick said:

The OPG take financial abuse of an POA very seriously and will take the appropriate action.

The OPG may wash their hands of this one as the donor is deceased. I would still contact them for completeness, but that seems to be their usual attitude where POA abuse only comes to light after death.

The OP's father should contact a solicitor so they can pursue civil recovery of the money. In a case this blatant the police might take an interest but you can never be sure. The threat to call the police may also be more useful as leverage than actually doing it.

notjustamum She admitted it and said that Nan wasn’t using the money so she genuinely thought as POA she had the right to make use of it.

Yeah, no she didn't. Every attorney has to sign a statement saying they have read the description of their legal duties and understand that they must act in the best interests of the donor. Your grandmother couldn't help being fleeced but your dad can.

xylophone

mainly that his sister, who is well-off herself,

Your father can demand that his sister return the funds she misappropriated.

If she refuses, he tells her that he will marshall the facts, advise the OPG, inform the police and sue her for the return of the money - he will also petition for his costs?

She admitted it and said that Nan wasn’t using the money so she genuinely thought as POA she had the right to make use of it.

Rubbish? And even if genuine, has she heard that ignorance of the law is no excuse?

elsien

And if he hasn't already paid up, there is no obligation on him to pay any debts that nan left behind.
If the estate is insolvent, they die with her. 

However I have had cases before where a financial power of attorney has defrauded the person and no-one seems willing to do very much about it. One gentleman was still alive and the family member was removed as LPA but no action was taken to recover the money or to prosecute, and the other person had passed on so the attitude was that as it wasn't affecting them any  more (obviously) it never went any further.
On a practical level your father may need to take legal advice to see if there is anything he can do to recover the money and this could be costly. 

talexuser

I had POA for my Mum, and a criminal offence has been commited. Good luck with any recovery.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safeguarding-strategy-2019-to-2025-office-of-the-public-guardian

Sea_Shell

So sorry that you're (your dad's) having to deal with this.   

Am i right in thinking that your Grandmother had capacity during the time that your Aunt was her attorney.   I'm guessing so as she subsequently changed her attorney and will.

The problem you may face (and I'm only saying "may"), is that it could be argued (by her) that your Aunt had been given permission from your GM to spend that money, and it was a gift.   Sadly your GM is no longer here to make her case.     Have you got any proof, that this money was spent against your GM's wishes?

Although to be honest, even if that were the case, (i'm not saying it was in this instance) surely no attorney should accept such a gift(s) as there is an obvious conflict of interest.      

Were any queries raised or looked into at the time your GM replaced your Aunt as her attorney.   Did she raise the alarm with anyone else that she suspected (or had proof) of fowl play?   Did she make any written testimony with the new PoA?

Does your father have the finances to pursue a legal case against his sister?   Would he really want to?    (some people would rather walk away, than drag family to court)

I really hope that you get the recompense that you deserve, but from what I've read on these boards over the years, it's not easy.

Good luck.

Sailtheworld

Aunty didn't rob her brother; she robbed her own mother. I think you threaten the OPG/ the police and legal action to see what can be recovered. If the threats don't work you have to assess the chances of sucess by following through on them.

A change of will indicates capacity so, if I were your Aunty, I'd say my mother of her own free will gifted me the money and wasn't bothered about leaving money behind for my brother. The fact grandmother took aunty out of the will and replaced her tells a story but the story can only be inferred. Can you prove guilt?

It's quite unusual for someone to make a late change to a will and remove a beneficiary. Is there no memorandum to explain this (it can help remove the risk of later legal claims)? Maybe she indicated to the solicitor why she wanted to change her will and attorney - you'd think it might have come up when they were determining capacity.

notjustamum

Thanks for everyone’s input. My Aunty was the eldest child and automatically took it upon herself to be in charge of nans finances when Nan went blind and went into a nursing home when in her 90’s. Due to Nan being blind my Aunty took care of everything. Approx 3 years ago my dad asked my Aunty if he could take a look at nans bank statement and she was very hesitant and kept ‘forgetting’ them until dad insisted. Once she handed over the bank statements, Dad immediately read the transactions listed on it to Nan and she was furious and said my Aunty had wrote cheques without her permission and asked dad to get everything off her and she instructed a change of will and POA. My Nan and dad had a series of explosive rows with Aunty and she said she needed the money and to have access to that amount was just too tempting. The will was changed immediately and the change of POA was underway when it seems another large amount of money disappeared out of nans building society account. I’m not certain of the details of that but it only came to light when Nan died at age 97 a couple of months ago and dad got all nans paperwork together. He applied for insurance policies and share certificates to fund they had all already been cashed-in. Nan was unaware of this as in her will she left the contents of one insurance policy to me, the cash-in value of her shares to my brother and after bills and funeral costs were settled, all other shares, policies and monies in her Building Society Account was to be left to dad. There was literally NOTHING left when he contacted them all. This resulted in a heated phone call to my Aunty and more explosive rows. She says she has spent it all and has nothing left, although she lives in a very nice area in a big house and owns caravans and a Harley Davidson.