Complications with Deputyship for Property and Financial Affairs.

Guitar180

Hello,

My mother has been in care for a few years with dementia and I've come across an issue. A Solicitors have started the application for my mother deputyship of Property and Financial Affairs. They sent a forum to myself and to my brother (whom I've recently reconnected with). I sent my form off some time ago and the firm was denied by the court since my older brother hadn't sent of his to the firm. After reconnecting with him we have decided that we should honour our parents wishes and take care of the house and the financial portion ourselves.

I have spoken to the Solicitors who were applying for the deputyship and they have said an "authority" will be in contact tomorrow. I assume this is the local council? But they'll be proceeding with the application.

My question is, will there be any reason for them to deny our request at this point? Will the council deny us on the case of how long it has taken? I'm worried as I feel like we will be denied and would of let our parents down. My brother is getting on and suffers from Agoraphobia among other mental health issues.

The house in question is in a bit of a state as we didn't know if we were allowed to even touch the house in anyway. We have had interest from a family friend buying the property as well a group of people who are willing to help make the house acceptable.

I've also been in contact with another solicitors, a local one, but they can't do much until the other firm have cancelled their application.

It's all very complicated and it's the not knowing that is getting to me. I just wanted to post and get other opinions.

Thank you.

elsien

Normally a professional deputy takes on their role because of issues or disputes or other reasons why family are not able to do so.
So in this case, potentially because it has dragged on for so long which isn’t in your mother‘s best interests while her property continues to deteriorate, that’s why the professional deputy route was being looked at. Particularly if you agreed in the first place that the professional could go ahead and have now changed your mind.
If your mum owns a property, and has been in care for a few years, she should’ve been paying her own fees during that time. Who has been paying the bills, and making sure the house is insured? So again on the limited information that you’ve given the fact that things have just been let slide for this length of time would appear to have pushed the local authority into having to make a decision.


Ultimate it’s up to the court of protection to decide who is most appropriate if there is no agreement. You would have your opportunity then to put side of things forwards.

I do have to suggest  though, that if your brother wasn’t able to deal with sending one form back because of his mental health issues, it’s not a good indication that he’d be able  to fulfil the rest of the deputy role effectively and that may well be another reason why the professional application is still going ahead. Plus the fact that two siblings who haven’t been in contact for a fair awhile are now expected to work together effectively. 

From an outsider’s point of view looking at your mother‘s best interests, A professional deputy seems reasonable. 

Guitar180

elsien said:

Normally a professional deputy takes on their role because of issues or disputes or other reasons why family are not able to do so.
So in this case, potentially because it has dragged on for so long which isn’t in your mother‘s best interests while her property continues to deteriorate, that’s why the professional deputy route was being looked at. Particularly if you agreed in the first place that the professional could go ahead and have now changed your mind.
If your mum owns a property, and has been in care for a few years, she should’ve been paying her own fees during that time. Who has been paying the bills, and making sure the house is insured? So again on the limited information that you’ve given the fact that things have just been let slide for this length of time would appear to have pushed the local authority into having to make a decision.


Ultimate it’s up to the court of protection to decide who is most appropriate if there is no agreement. You would have your opportunity then to put side of things forwards.

I do have to suggest  though, that if your brother wasn’t able to deal with sending one form back because of his mental health issues, it’s not a good indication that he’d be able  to fulfil the rest of the deputy role effectively and that may well be another reason why the professional application is still going ahead. Plus the fact that two siblings who haven’t been in contact for a fair awhile are now expected to work together effectively. 

From an outsider’s point of view looking at your mother‘s best interests, A professional deputy seems reasonable. 

Thank you, I suppose I will just have to wait and see what it said tomorrow.

elsien

Bear in mind that my reply is based on probably 5% of the true picture.
This is what the professional will be thinking so if you have a think about some the points and how you might be able to counter them that would be a starting point.

Guitar180

I'm sorry for asking but do you have an idea of what the phone call would be about tomorrow? Would I need to plead my case to the person on the phone. I don't know but I'd imagine it would go through separate channels a court or a judge before a decision is made.

Guitar180

I'm sorry I forgot to answer the questions you had. Bills and costs for the house went through me on her behave. The electric and water companies. 

elsien

It may just be someone phoning up to explain the reasoning. It may be someone letting you know about dispute processes. I really don’t know. 

If you are disputing it then yes, it would have to go through the court. Not a quick process and sometimes the court will appoint an independent deputy in the meantime. If you’re looking at disputing and want legal advice through the process you will need a solicitor who specialises in the Mental Capacity Act challenges, not your average conveyancing solicitor.

elsien

From a strictly legal point of view and without knowing where her money has been going and how you’ve been accessing it, as soon as she lost capacity and without a power of attorney or deputyship, no one should have  been speaking to you, and you shouldn’t have been able to access her bank account etc -  aside from the DWP if you are her appointee.

So maybe you’ve been doing things with the best of motives, but not in quite the right way. So another point for consideration might be where you went to for advice and again why it’s taken so long for any sort of deputyship to be applied for? That’s not a judgement, because it can be a complicated system - but it still comes back to several years with no one really taking charge and that may be the barrier that you have to overcome. 

Guitar180

That doesn't sound great. I've been using her account to get some other things for her when she asked them like sweets and nightgowns. That sounds serious.

elsien

Don’t panic - it’s not going come back on you if you’ve been paying bills and buying things that she needs and on her behalf, because you genuinely didn’t know otherwise. There would only be a real issue if money had gone missing that couldn’t be accounted for. 

It’s more making sure that moving forwards everything is in place that needs to be. You’re not the first person who hasn’t realised the limitations when someone loses capacity, and you won’t be the last.

Has she not been having  any local authority reviews or anything while she’s been at the care home where these issues could have been discussed?

Guitar180

I'm pretty panicked now, it is probably a large amount by now. I have no proof on what I've spent that money on besides the bills of course.

I'll make records on anything that is spent from now on and keep receipts.
Most of the contact that we've had has been from Nurses and a few social workers in the past but nothing until now.