Theft by POA?

WilliamTheBloody

My great uncle has POA health and welfare and money for my grandmother. The money part is active as my gran cannot handle money at all. She doesn't have any concept of money, never has done and my grandfather used to handle all the money before he passed away.

I've found out that my grandmother believes she has been making small donations of money to me over the last year or so. Apparently these are £50-100 each month. My uncle is supposed to withdraw the money from my gran's bank account.

I haven't received this money.

A relative has seen the bank statements and has spotted that regular sums are being taken from my grandmother's account (£100-200 a time), which they believe is the money my gran thinks is being passed on to me (and some to my cousin.)

I don't want to upset my gran (she's 90 and frail), but if my great uncle is keeping that money, isn't that theft?

elsien

if you have any concerns about the management of the power of attorney and wish to take it further, you need to contact the office of the public guardian with any evidence that you have.

GrubbyGirl_2

You must contact the office of the public guardian and ask them to investigate. I really don't think you can ignore it as by doing so you could be implicated or thought to be complicit.

WilliamTheBloody

I looked at the POA complaints webpage but it looks like they would only investigate if my gran does not have capacity. She does have capacity in the sense that she can still make her own decisions, it's just she can't cope with money. i think my gran would be very upset but not able to have a confrontation with her brother. I don't want that for her either.

I don't really have documented proof, i can't access the bank statements. I just wondered if anyone else had been through this type of thing and how they had approached it?

user1977

If gran still has capacity then I would think anybody investigating this allegation would need to involve her, but it sounds like you'd prefer that not to happen?

GrubbyGirl_2

Why not just ask the question of your uncle in an non accusatory way? something like "do you think mum is getting a bit confused, only she said to me the other day that she'd been giving me money every month which she clearly hasn't been but now it's started to worry me about her health?"

If nothing else that will put him on notice that you're suspicious but without confronting him

Sea_Shell

Also consider that once she passes, if this all comes to light, the OPG will no longer be interested in any complaint, as the PoA ceases on death.

Police won't get involved as it's a "civil matter", unless large sums of money are involved, and you push hard, with strong evidence of the 'theft '.

Who are her executors? Same person?

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81976612#Comment_81976612

Pretty much exactly what I was going to suggest. A non accusatory query to the Great Uncle, and see what he says.

Rusty190

How did the other "relative" have access to Gran's bank statements?

bobster2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81976623#Comment_81976623

What the OP describes does sound more like simple "theft" than just misuse of a PoA.

An attorney using a PoA to give themselves money - without the knowledge of the donor - would be more like misuse of a PoA.

But if the donor says "go to the bank and get £100 to give to my grandson" and the attorney does this but pockets the cash - they've used the PoA correctly to withdraw the money in line with the donors wishes but simply then stolen it.

WilliamTheBloody

Yes, the executor is the same person.

The other relative has seen bank statements because they were trying to work out how much my gran was paying for her TV/phone package which seems excessively high.

I will try the non accusatory chat. Thanks.