LPA query

Ms_Chocaholic

Along with what has been said, another factor to consider is if the partner lives in your father's property after he dies, who will be responsible for its maintenance.

Keep_pedalling

samsam89 said:

lr1277 said:

Talking about jointly and severally, your dad needs to decide who makes his health and welfare decisions, once he has lost capacity. And if he chooses more than one person whether the act jointly or jointly and severally.

This would (under his current suggestion) also be her. With my brother and I in reserve.

It does sound rather like he has made his mind up to do this and if that is the case all you can do to try to maintain a good relationship with them both. If at any point you suspect that she is abusing her position gather as much evidence as you can and report your concerns to the OPG. If the OPG are given cause to investigate they will be asking her to produce financial reports on his assets.

Has he also made her his executor? 

gettingtheresometime

Keep_pedalling said:

gettingtheresometime said:

Keep_pedalling said:

gettingtheresometime said:

9Keep_pedalling said:

samsam89 said:

Ms_Chocaholic said:

In terms of her continuing to live in the house after your father's death, how old is she? Has your dad thought this through, what if she re-marries.

I’m not sure if he has thought that part through. She is around 15 years younger. What are the implications if she were to remarry? I wasn’t aware there would be any…

You should encourage him to spend a few hundred of his savings talking all this through with a solicitor, he might take more kindly to advise from a professional than from his children.

That's all very well & good to get correct legal advice but I think the father then needs to show his draft will to someone impartial to get their opinion on it. I'm sure that if my FIL had got an impartial POV then it would have been pointed out to him that potentially  his children would never see their inheritance....which was blindly obvious the moment we saw it after his death.

Which is why I suggested he speak to a STEP solicitor who would go through all the pros and cons with him. Paying for impartial advice from an expert in wills and trusts is better than the free impartial advice you might get from a stranger in the pub.

Sorry it might be because this sort of issue has been a really bone of contention for the last 16 yrs and has been brought into sharp focus by the death of my husband that I'm a little touchy about it but I don't understand why using a STEP solicitor would have made a difference my family's case. 

The will was written by a solicitor, written in plain straight forward english and whilst my FIL didn't have qualifications, he wasn't a stupid man so fully knew what he was (effectively) signing.

My point is is that had he shown the will to say his brother, I'm am sure that it would have been pointed out to him that there was potential for the partner to outlive his children (especially given the ages that my MIL and subsequently my FIL died and the age of the new partner) Yes I agree that if the will had stated she had say 5 yrs after death  before she had to vacate the property, then again there was a probability that the new partner might outlive the two children but that would have been a much smaller probability than leaving it open ended.

Can another family member really be classed as impartial? There is also a big difference between seeking advice and acting soon it, and I fear this may be the case with the OPs father, who seems more afraid of upsetting his partner than in protecting his interests should she illegally exploit the powers he is about to give her.

Your FIL may or may not have sort advice before making the will but in the end it is up to each of us to leave our estate as we see fit. A good solicitor will cover all the what if situations and make suggestions but if the client chooses to ignore advice they will still draft the will as per the clients instructions. 

You may be right and it may have been exactly what my FIL wanted but given he turned down her proposal of marriage and hid the will from her, I suspect had she known the terms (which given the length of their relationship was extremely generous by anyone's standards) she would have done exactly what the partner of the OP's dad is doing and made his life hell for the remainder of it (he made the will following his terminal cancer diagnosis) 

I think I'd better bow of this thread - as I'm further down the path than the OP, I'm all too aware of the grief that a will which while is well intentioned, doesn't take into account the law of unintended consequences as my FIL's did.

samsam89

Keep_pedalling said:

samsam89 said:

lr1277 said:

Talking about jointly and severally, your dad needs to decide who makes his health and welfare decisions, once he has lost capacity. And if he chooses more than one person whether the act jointly or jointly and severally.

This would (under his current suggestion) also be her. With my brother and I in reserve.

It does sound rather like he has made his mind up to do this and if that is the case all you can do to try to maintain a good relationship with them both. If at any point you suspect that she is abusing her position gather as much evidence as you can and report your concerns to the OPG. If the OPG are given cause to investigate they will be asking her to produce financial reports on his assets.

Has he also made her his executor? 

I’m not sure if he has made her an executor. If he has done then what bearing would that have? 

The thing is that my father has conceded (in and amongst various exchanges between my brother and myself) is that the joint and severally suggestion which I and my brother have put forward is exactly that, sensible and makes sense. He wants to protect her financially and we want to honour his wishes. The problem is his partner will not agree to it for whatever reason, presumably a lack of trust that she would have security. We are trying to arrange a face to face sit down discussion over the next few days to try and come to an agreement that my father and everyone can be happy with but at the moment it does seem like he is trying to please her and is ignoring the bigger picture circumstances.

samsam89

Ms_Chocaholic said:

Along with what has been said, another factor to consider is if the partner lives in your father's property after he dies, who will be responsible for its maintenance.

Is there a default position on that legally? Not sure on the answer either to be perfectly honest, it’s not something I’ve considered. Priority at the moment is dealing with what I view as single handedly signing away our ability to have a say in whether he lives or dies, in what condition he would live and also what ability the partner would have to essentially empty bank accounts and funds at her whim.