gifting and power of attorney

[suffolkworried]

Apologies for long post but here goes.
Just under 2 yrs ago, after an accident which left me unable to work for over 6 months, I was in a sticky situation with money, and my lovely mum gave me quite a large sum to bail me out, six months later, after me becoming worried because she was forgetting a few day to day things, she saw a doctor, and was diagnosed as having early stages of Altzheimers. Since then, My brother and I have gained enduring power of Attorney, which she was deemed in sound enough mind to sign to say she agreed to this. Now my brother has looked through her bank statements and seen this money, and is saying that I took this money off mum when she was unable to fully understand what she was doing, and I have to pay the money back to her, or he would have to accuse me of fraud, and call the police and social services. I cannot pay the money back at present, Mum has told him it was gifted to me, and she didn't feel it was any of his business what she did with her own money, but brother has also support of my other brother, and they say she needed this for her care, and I was wrong to accept it. Mums Altzheimers is worse now, and she cannot remember exactly how much and why she gifted me the money, but she still says that she would not have done this for me without a good reason, and she still does not want me to pay her back, but, to be honest, she will have forgotten all this again tomorrow. Have i broken the law by accepting this money, as my brother says ( he is a policeman), and can they charge me with fraud on behalf of my mum, even if she has told them she absolutley does not want to bring any charges agains me, and he has no right to do so.

[scaryteacher]

I don't think they can charge you with anything as it was before you signed the POA and before she was diagnosed.

Your brother should only be concerned with your Mum's financial affairs since the date he was appointed as an attorney; prior to that does not concern him as he obviously thought your Mum of sound mind, or otherwise he would have got a POA sooner.

One could argue that he is committing fraud by getting your Mum to sign the POA if she has Alzheimers, and she should really be looked after by the OPG, who will appoint a guardian in such cases.

Your Mum gave you the money and he cannot do anything about it as far as I know.

Dh and his brother have just been POAs for their Dad., and weren't concerned with what had happened prior to the POA, just with afterwards.

[suffolkworried]

The Consultant recommended we get the POA, as he said she was in the early enough in the illness to be able to sign. We are glad she did, as now she obviously would not be. Just another note, mum also traditionally had paid for school shoes at the beginning of September, and for one of their clubs, mine do scouts, she has done this for all her grandchildren, it was just something she always did. My 2 are the only ones left a school, and she did this at the beginning of term as usual, as she said she wanted to do this, but brothers also said I should not have let her do this, Mum gets pleasure in buying for her grandkids, was I violating the POA in allowing this as well?

[scaryteacher]

Which POA do you have? If it's the Health and Welfare, then the finance one is separate, as there are now two. You need to have a look at the Office of the Public Guardian website, and see what they tell you. They are really helpful when you ring and will give you advice.

Is it set up as the attorneys acting jointly, or jointly and severally? It makes a difference.