A Nightmare scenario

teaselMay

StevieD, I don't know the ins and outs of wills etc but in terms of your nephew and the household bills unless the house is a sprawling pile if he's disabled enough to have a team of carers he should be receiving enough in benefits income to cover those bills from his own benefits. One thing that you can do now is check what benefits he's receiving and whether it's everything that he should be receiving.

It sounds as though he should be on:

Universal Credit, likely with the limited capability for work related activity premium
Personal Independence Payment - check that it looks as though he's receiving the right amount, you can find descriptors for each part of it online.
Council tax benefit - this will have changed now that he's the only occupant, it varies by council but in many areas if no savings and only benefit income it will cover his whole bill. He may also, separately, qualify as severely mentally impaired which would mean he's exempt regardless of finances too.

elsien

In terms of your suggestion that the estate should be covering the bills because he may get an inheritance from his father in the future, the issue is that at the moment he doesn’t have an inheritance for the bills to be paid from. And may not do so in the future.

The property is protected from care home fees while he’s living there, but he may in the future decide that it’s too big and unmanageable and he wants to live somewhere smaller. In which case, the property would be used to pay for care home fees and there may not be much left in Trust for him in the longer term.

This is something you definitely need proper legal advice about in terms of querying the will and also best interests in what his dad would want if he was able to say. I think either way this is going to end up with the OPG.

And unfortunately your nephew may have to consider cutting back on some daily activities if they’re not all affordable because he is now buying his own food, et cetera. Yes a full benefits check should absolutely be done, but if he has  understanding to be able to complete a power-of-attorney and he should have enough understanding even if he doesn’t like it to understand that some things might have to change.

KxMx

My advice is similar, have a benefits check up for him and speak to his care team about a re assessment in terms of finances and support. 

But ultimately his life has changed now because he no longer has a supportive parent with funds to subsidise him. 
So he (and you) will need to find ways for him to live only on his benefit income. 

One suggestion is in his new circumstances from the PIP mobility award, which is better the Motability car or the £75.75 going weekly into his bank account? 


I'm disabled, single, childless, no parental financial support, I manage with what I have (UC, PIP, CTR) because I have to. I'm certainly not alone. 

teaselMay

I'd missed that he has a Motability car, as KxMx suggests look at whether this makes financial sense. It may well not do, bus fare a few times a week will likely be much less.

As an example of how much a Motability car costs, I gave mine up, bought a van, converted it to a camper, insure, run and maintain it as a camper van within the budget of what I was paying to Motability for a car.

Ed to add, wherever he is within the 3 year contract you can contact Motability and arrange to give it back and end the contract. I did exactly that about 8 years ago.

StevieD54

elsien said:

 but if he has understanding to be able to complete a power-of-attorney and he should have enough understanding even if he doesn’t like it to understand that some things might have to change.

I’ve just dug out the original LPA document. Her autistic son did sign it of course (a rather childlike signature) and so did I as an attorney, but I know there is no way he would have understood what the LPA document is. But somehow my sister managed to get it accepted. Are there special rules in place for LPA situations like this I wonder?

Flugelhorn

StevieD54 said:

elsien said:

 but if he has understanding to be able to complete a power-of-attorney and he should have enough understanding even if he doesn’t like it to understand that some things might have to change.

I’ve just dug out the original LPA document. Her autistic son did sign it of course (a rather childlike signature) and so did I as an attorney, but I know there is no way he would have understood what the LPA document is. But somehow my sister managed to get it accepted. Are there special rules in place for LPA situations like this I wonder?

there should have been a certificate provider who also signed (not a relative) - someone who spoke to the son and heard his views on the matter and was sure that he wanted to do this and understood it 

elsien

StevieD54 said:

elsien said:

 but if he has understanding to be able to complete a power-of-attorney and he should have enough understanding even if he doesn’t like it to understand that some things might have to change.

I’ve just dug out the original LPA document. Her autistic son did sign it of course (a rather childlike signature) and so did I as an attorney, but I know there is no way he would have understood what the LPA document is. But somehow my sister managed to get it accepted. Are there special rules in place for LPA situations like this I wonder?

No there are no special rules. It is the responsibility of attorneys, and the certificate provider to make sure the person fully understands what they are signing. The OPG don’t check unless queries are raised. It is possible that if challenged the LPA could be overturned in the future if it’s very clear that the person would not have had capacity. Capacity  can’t generally be assessed in retrospect but if nothing else has changed and it’s a permanent disability such a learning disability rather than a progressive condition like dementia then that tends to be clearer.
Your sister slid this under the radar – did you not question it when you had to sign the form to agree to be the attorney? 

elsien

As an unrelated issue, do you know where his benefits have been paid into? Does he have his own bank account or did they go into his mother’s?

Regardless of any LPA issues if he lacks capacity around his finances, I would suggest contacting the DWP and starting the process to become his appointee. You can then change the account it’s been paid into and potentially set up an account in your name for the money to go in to keep it separate from your own and then use it to support him in the best way for him to help him to budget. 

StevieD54

thanks both……

I take your point but I was hardly going to question my sister getting LPA for her son. But who would now challenge it’s validity I’m not sure. I wasn’t aware of a ‘certificate provider’.  

On your other point, I’ve already written to the DWP asking them to switch his EESA & PIP payments to his own account from my sister’s, explaining I have LPA to ask them to do this. I’ve supplied DWP with the online code to view the LPA.  But as you suggest, perhaps instead I could have set up another account for those benefits.  I know there are rules about ‘savings’ levels possibly affecting benefits, but does ‘savings’ mean another actual ‘savings’ account or a day-to-day current account I wonder?

elsien

Savings means overall level of savings and assets which are his wherever they are. 

And part of the reason for them being paid into a separate account is that if he has his own bank card or go to the bank himself it is to stop him from blowing the lot when he now needs to use it to pay bills and budget for other things.

Plus, if anyone at any point does challenge the power of attorney it leaves you with no legal means to access any account in his name. as to who could challenge it, it depends whether you have one just for finances or whether there’s a health and welfare one as well.