Forums Forums Wirral Information Law And Your Rights Solicitors--Old Folks Home Fees

Anyone used a solicitor with experience in dealing with Local Authorities that get hold of old peoples homes to pay there care fees.
A friend is looking for an experienced solicitor to consider his case in trying to get his mother home back off the LA.

The Council (think its Cheshire County Council) reps managed to get his mum to sign over her home even though she had dementia and without her son being present who had power of attorney for her.

Sorry, I cannot assist but I think the reps are pure ....

Why not try this first. At least lodge a complaint and the ball will start rolling whilst a solicitor is found.

http://www.lgo.org.uk/

Sounds like someone hasn't done their job properly. Who had the deeds of the property? Nobody can do much without the deeds and the involvement of a solicitor, I wouldn't have thought.

Fish, this may be worth a read for some insight.

It mentions the Court of Protection, whatever that might be.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/programmes/money_box/transcripts/10_09_22_extra.pdf

If your friend has full power of attorney , he is responsible for his mothers finances and will have to answer to the Court of Protection for every penny spent and financial decision made, so something has gone very wrong somewhere if her house has been signed over without his knowledge , in which case I would have thought just about any solicitor would be dealing with a fairly clear cut case. If it were me Id be speaking to the Court of Protection first for advice . Who knows, they might even be able to sort it .

A loved one can still be in control there finances even if there is a power of Attorney In Place. What is needed is a certificate to say that the loved one no longer has the capacity to make decisions on there own.

Power of Attorney does not over power a living persons wishes.

There are lots of types of dementia, my mum has vascular dementia but manages all her finances no problem.

You can have a No Capacity test done but its after the event. You need to be able to prove that your friends mum had No Capacity at the time of signing over the house.

I think what may have happened is that she has signed over the house upon her death. This is how local authorities reclaim care home fees. If someone is living in the home they will be fine until death and then the vultures move in.

Hope that helps
But the local authorities care in one hand and take everything in the other.

Jacksons solicitors in Hoylake are experts in this field.
However the law is, if a person goes into care regardless of poa.if they do not have the funds to pay for care a charge is placed on their assets.
Other specialists are Weightmans and Hill Dickson in Liverpool.
Be aware that you are unlikely to get legal aid and there is no longer a free half hour.
Once you enter the office the clock is ticking and Weightmans can charge around £300 and hour plus vat.(3£60)

cheers guys for advice will pass on to person concerned

"A loved one can still be in control there finances even if there is a power of Attorney In Place."

Think we might be talking at cross purposes here Mark. Lots of older people have a poa in place but still carry out their own finances, but Im talking about when the persons dementia worsens, and their chosen person has to activate the poa, registering it with the Court of Protection . Once registered my understanding is that the poa holder has taken over the admin of the finances, and is answerable to the court, and the subject of the poa can no longer for instance even sign a cheque. The attorney does however still have to try and take the persons wishes into consideration where possible. Maybe the son hadnt actually activated the poa yet.

My Grandads solicitor wants him to sign over POA to one of us. No idea why as he is probably sharper than the rest of us put together!!

Maybe youve answered your own question Rude, perhaps he thinks he might get away with charging you lot, more than your canny Grandad lol if and when hes asked to act for him.

CORRECTION on my previous post mentioning Court of Protection . I should have said the poa gets activated by registering at the Office of the Public Guardian. Apologies. Court of Protection is to look after the interests of people who become incapacitated but didnt appoint there own poa in readiness.

Rude if your granddad had a stroke and no longer had capacity its very expensive to become the Protection of the Guardian after the effect.

You can only become Power of Attorney while they are mentally fit enough to agree to it.
And have registered your application.

Power of Attorney about £110 on-line form gov web site. Click Me
Protection of the Guardian £1,000 - £2,000

Protection of the Guardian Application is about £500 then costs. You cant make a mistake or you have to pay again, so your cornered into appointing a solicitor. And because you need medical certificates etc it easily with solicitor fees goes beyond £1,000 on a good day. With issue then closer to £2,000 its £180 for a cognitive test from a doctor to prove no capacity.


Lasting Power of Attorney
As you can see from this page there are many variations Click Me
But they break down into Heath or Wealth basically or Both.

I have first hand experience of the Protection of the Guardian (No Power of Attorney in place).
Its expensive and its take take take. Security Bonds, Paying the Office of the Public Guardian to monitor you, but they don't do much at all but that's £360 a year. The List goes on and on.

I have a close friend who registered as there mums Power of Attorney on-line and said the help line was great for advice and helping with filling in the POA.


Sorry for ranting a bit but wanted to highlight some of the crazy costs involved in doing the right thing.
And then you will realise the government is out for every penny they can.

Thanks very much Mark. You have raised issues that we have not considered. Will email this thread to my sister. Will print it off too for Grandad to read.

Update: I have taken Print out of this thread to Grandad to read, explaining the 'silly' names (Our Usernames :p)and what the links mean.

He had a read through and I have left it with him to read through and digest at his own leisure but it seems very likely that he will be happy to appoint a POA, in the near future -done online.

'We (family) can do it (if you wish)'I said 'Tell ya solicitor to bog off'!!Lol

So thanks to the O.P, other contributors and especially Mark for hilighting this issue/ procedure.