POA - Mental Capacity Assessment

PinkFluffyClouds

My sibling and I are set up with Lasting Power of Attorney for our parents. This was done while they still had sufficient mental capacity and the POAs were set up with the proviso "while the donor has mental capacity, you can only use the LPA if the donor allows you to".

We've since had to move them both into a dementia care home and are in the process of selling their apartment. The paralegal has quoted the above clause to us, saying we either have to get a letter from each parent saying they still have capacity, but we're allowed to use the POA, or a letter from a medical professional confirming that they no longer have capacity to enter into legal agreements.

We've been in touch with one company who offer mental capacity assessments and they've quoted over £900, which is more that the POAs cost to set up in the first place. Does anyone have any other suggestions for getting this assessment done for a more reasonable price? The care home aren't interested (paraphrasing, but essentially it is outside their remit) and they say the GP won't do this either.

flossymcfly

Speak with the GP directly. We had this with my grandmother and the GP came out to do a capacity assessment. From memory, we had to pay around £25 for the letter to confirm. Not sure if this is the same with every GP surgery, do they have a consultant or anything who dealt with the dementia diagnosis? Could you speak to them?

sgthammer

Have you asked the GP directly?

elsien

Absolute rubbish from the paralegal. I work with a number of clients who would not have capacity around finances or selling a house but who would quite happily sign a letter confirming they have capacity.

So as a starting point what is your view of their understanding at the moment? Because just being in the care home doesn’t mean they have lost capacity.
Otherwise is there a social worker involved at all - they may help. Or get a better solicitor because normally it’s the solicitor who will give a view on legal capacity. 

RAS

Just checking that the LPAs are registered with the OPG?

PinkFluffyClouds

Thank you for you suggestions and questions.

I've phoned the GP surgery. The receptionist hadn't been asked this before, so she took the details and sent it off to a doctor. She said if I hadn't heard in a week, to give them a call, so not to expect a quick turnaround.

To answer other questions:

The apartment my parents are selling is part of a retirement village. The agreement they signed when they bought was for the charity that runs the retirement village would buy back the property for the purchase price, less certain costs (to make the apartment fit for the next residents) therefore the paralegal is actually working for the charity, and not for us/my parents. We were told that we shouldn't need our own solicitor. Apart from this bump we've hit, it appears to be working quite well.

Dad had already been diagnosed with Alzheimer's when he had two strokes, his memory, both long and short term, is terrible and he clearly doesn't have mental capacity to be making any decisions.

Mum's slightly more complicated, she had a fall nearly three years ago and hasn't been able to walk since, she can no longer feed herself and we don't think she can write. When asked what year it is, the most recent year she came up with was 2006. My sibling went through some dementia test questions with her and she did pretty badly at that, though she can still get a lot of questions on The Chase right.

We have the POAs registered with the OPG. We used the website to get the access codes for the paralegal and on there it says "The donor has said that this LPA can be used now. While the donor has mental capacity, you can only use the LPA if the donor allows you to."

elsien

A Dementia screening test or knowing what year it is isn’t relevant for capacity for properties sales.
Just for your information it tells you in this link what your mum would need to understand. You may need to share this with the GP as they are unlikely to know themselves, And it would be helpful to try and have that conversation with your mother first, anyway.
https://tsfassessments.co.uk/capacity-to-sell-and-buy-property-understanding-the-legal-and-practical-implications/