What happens when there is no LPOA?

Gardengal88

So, what happens when someone loses capacity and has no LPOA in place?

My mother has vascular dementia and is in a care home - she was living in her own home with her partner but has become too unwell and he can't care for her safely. They have both refused past advice over LPOA.

They don't share property or finances, but as she has no capacity he has continued to use her bank accounts, her finances and not inform her bank. The household bills etc are still being paid by her.

I've discussed this with her social worker, who said as long as her contribution towards the care home was getting paid they aren't going to protect her assets and the partner can carry on spending her money.

I was under the impression that if there is no LPOA then the court of protection should appoint someone to manage this?

Can anyone advise?

RAS

You need to apply for deputyship, which is a long process.

Meantime, you might inform the banks that mum is in care and her partner is still accessing accounts.

How they respond may well vary, depending on the way in which his access to her accounts is set up.

silvercar

Either ‘she was living in her own home with her partner’ or ‘they don’t share property’? They can’t both be true.

If he was living in her house and now she needs to permanently move to a care home, what happens to him?

If it’s her house, it seems reasonable that she pays the house costs, until such time as a permanent solution is found eg selling it or renting it out etc. I would have thought they jointly contribute to the housing costs if they both lived there and it wouldn’t be unreasonable for this to continue, especially if he can’t afford to run the home on his own.

Time for him to get an LPA set up at the very least. For her, unless she has good enough days to be able to set up an LPA, it’s a court application that could take months, in the meantime, who pays her bills?