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Hi Malthusian and ThemeOne. Thanks for your thoughts. On the ‘free hotel’ aspect, due to the intensity of their illnesses – both complex – the three children try to support the situation. All of us live a substantial distance away. Supporting intense long-term illness, including regular long-distance driving, is expensive and demanding. There are also daily phone calls and emails to the nursing home, private therapists and paperwork to be organised.
Originally posted by Mr Dufray
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I thought she was in a nursing home. Day-to-day support is their job. What support are the children giving her that makes it in her interests for them not to pay for an AirBNB or a hotel while they are visiting? Why do they need the use of a free house to make phone calls and emails?
It is in the mother's interest to have visitors, it is not in her interests for them to save money by using her house as a free hotel, that's in the children's interests. It prevents her from selling the house and using the capital in her own best interests to support her care needs and maximise her financial security.
This is no different from an attorney trying to justify giving the donor's money to the children on the grounds it's to cover their travel expenses for visits. It is not in the donor's interests and is unlawful. Unless there is evidence the donor wanted these gifts to be made, which would include paying their expenses while she was in control of her own affairs and specifying that she wanted these gifts to continue in her Lasting Power of Attorney. If she did those things then fair enough.
If someone else's elderly mother had been renting a retirement home before moving into care and her entire assets consisted of £480,000 in cash, would the Attorneys think it would be in her interests to use £300,000 of her money to buy a house for them to stay in for free? It is the same decision.