Brother in Hospital.

elsien

@IreneMot, no-one is going to be going into his house to take family photos, clearing it out or doing anything else because there isn't the legal authority to do so. Not for you, not for the local authority, not for anyone.
If someone can't consent and doesn't have an LPA then deputyship to access the property, access any bank accounts, access anything aside from state pension/benefits has to be applied for via the court of protection. There aren't any short cuts to that. 

pollypenny

Do not give in to pressure from SW or discharge team to take your brother on, whether in your home or visit him multiple times a day.  

If he has to be discharged to his home, an enablement time should be arranged by the hospital free if charge.  I had a big fight with the William Harvey hospital about this who claimed that became aunt didn't have carers previously she didn't need them then- after breaking her hip. She had severe macular degeneration.  

Some social workers are wonderful , but others just go  through the motions. 

Brie

Sorry you are going through this.  Sounds a dreadful situation.

Don't worry about the will at this point.  If the worst happens (& lets hope it doesn't) then there's a way to deal with estates where there is no will.  Things go to parents (I assume they're no longer around), siblings and then other relations.  Easy enough to google "intestate" to find out more.

LPA - yes see if this is do-able.  He might be a bit rambling now due to the knock on the head and recovering.  It's an easy thing to do with online forms and a cost of about £87 per LPA.  There's one for health and one for finances, if possible get both.

We are looking at the NHS Continuing Healthcare for him, but every person we talk to says that they want him out of the hospital, and they can do this test at a later date, this is going against everything I have read online. Social workers bamboozled us on the first day of him going to into hospital, asked for information and said he won't be able to go back home because it's unsafe for him and others. I have not signed anything. Consultant and nurses have all asked if we have Lasting Power of Attorney and if he has over £23K.

@elsien has some good advice about how people are moved out of a hospital in order to free up beds.  It's a stepped move from major hospital to cottage one to assisted living of some sort.

And I quite get it that you feel the social workers "bamboozled" you.  They have a very bad habit, in my experience, of asking questions when you, yourself may be distressed.  Feel free to tell them to arrange an appointment and send you a list of questions so you can prepare to answer them honestly.  My OH had to get quite "strong" with the one dealing with his mom as she wasn't listening to anything anyone said and misinterpreted quite a lot more.  And talked over anyone who tried to say anything she didn't like. 

The bit about the £23k (actually it's £23.5k) is to decide if your brother (not you or anyone else in the family) will pay for his care if he is moved into a care home.   This will be based on what he has in bank accounts, cash in the house etc and take into account how much money he receives from whatever pensions or other income.  If the social workers decide he needs to move to a care home they will find one in their area (so potentially not convenient for you, but likely near where his house is) that will be relatively inexpensive (£1k a week?).  So if he is actually quite wealthy you might want to assist him get into a really nice place knowing that when his money runs out he has to move.  Or you might be happy with what the SWs find.  (MiL was found a perfectly nice place in my opinion - not the Ritz but friendly and caring).  They will also consider the value of his house - it might be useful for you to google prices in his area just to get an understanding.  Ultimately it's likely the house will be sold to pay for his care but that will obviously take a while.  But the council could put a lien on it to ensure they get their money back.    

Hope that is of some help.  Do ask more questions as lots of us have been through similar situations.

Brie

elsien said:

@IreneMot, no-one is going to be going into his house to take family photos, clearing it out or doing anything else because there isn't the legal authority to do so. Not for you, not for the local authority, not for anyone.
If someone can't consent and doesn't have an LPA then deputyship to access the property, access any bank accounts, access anything aside from state pension/benefits has to be applied for via the court of protection. There aren't any short cuts to that. 

You can apply to manage the state benefits which should include attendance allowance once he's out of hospital.  In fact we were told we HAD to apply for this for MiL by the social worker.

macman

Brie said:

elsien said:

@IreneMot, no-one is going to be going into his house to take family photos, clearing it out or doing anything else because there isn't the legal authority to do so. Not for you, not for the local authority, not for anyone.
If someone can't consent and doesn't have an LPA then deputyship to access the property, access any bank accounts, access anything aside from state pension/benefits has to be applied for via the court of protection. There aren't any short cuts to that. 

You can apply to manage the state benefits which should include attendance allowance once he's out of hospital.  In fact we were told we HAD to apply for this for MiL by the social worker.

Not without his consent, which he may not be of sound mind to give. If he isn't then the Court of Protection is the only way, which is both long drawn out and very expensive.

elsien

macman said:

Brie said:

elsien said:

@IreneMot, no-one is going to be going into his house to take family photos, clearing it out or doing anything else because there isn't the legal authority to do so. Not for you, not for the local authority, not for anyone.
If someone can't consent and doesn't have an LPA then deputyship to access the property, access any bank accounts, access anything aside from state pension/benefits has to be applied for via the court of protection. There aren't any short cuts to that. 

You can apply to manage the state benefits which should include attendance allowance once he's out of hospital.  In fact we were told we HAD to apply for this for MiL by the social worker.

Not without his consent, which he may not be of sound mind to give. If he isn't then the Court of Protection is the only way, which is both long drawn out and very expensive.

No, appointee can be applied for directly to the DWP because the person lacks capacity. Their consent isn’t needed. 

I would suggest it’s too early for this at the moment though.

Flugelhorn

TBH I would avoid too much pressure by social workers etc to do stuff - if they think there is some willing to do it they will let you get on with it - see what they have on offer and what they will arrange. 

Don't be pressurised to find info about finances either, I had a lot of pressure from social worker re mother, I didn't know how much she had in the bank but they had been nosing through paperwork and clealry did 

pollypenny

Flugelhorn said:

TBH I would avoid too much pressure by social workers etc to do stuff - if they think there is some willing to do it they will let you get on with it - see what they have on offer and what they will arrange. 

Don't be pressurised to find info about finances either, I had a lot of pressure from social worker re mother, I didn't know how much she had in the bank but they had been nosing through paperwork and clealry did 

Spot on here again. Ensure that you are listened to.  A friend had lots of trouble as social services kept expecting her to step in and had recorded her address as a small village in North Wales when she actually lived on the other side of England.   

Morglin

You can get an LPA if the person has no capacity, as I did for my mother.  But, it is quite long winded, because the person has to be assessed independently.

The hodpital need to be discharging to some sort of care situation - don't let them discharge him straight home.  You will struggle to get help.  He can be assessed for finances, once in the care home.

If he's a hoarder, then  he's at extreme risk of another fall or accident.

How to apply for an LPA if there is lack of mental capacity:

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/family-and-care/long-term-care/if-the-person-you-want-to-help-has-lost-mental-capacity

RAS

Deputyship takes a considerable time to organise.