Grandfather with dementia and possible financial abuse/will change

@Teacup40 what you need is a proper independent assessment. I suggest you contact a STEP solicitor near where your Grandfathers lives as they will provide the best advice. https://www.step.org/about-step/public

I am going to be honest with you, from bitter experience some people lose all morals when it comes to £££.

If he does lack capacity then his finances need to be formalised through deputyship which the opg advise about.

That isn’t true. You can have a diagnosis of dementia and still have capacity to make decisions about lots of things including POA. It’s an illness that develops over several years and cognitive deficits can be patchy. So in the earlier stages people often have capacity for some decisions

If you have a formal dementia diagnosis you can use it to contest an LPA because it will be dated prior to the LPA being lodged.

His current will was likely drawn up by the same solicitor who did his wife’s, especially if they are mirror wills.

Contact his GP and the social worker with your safeguarding concerns. If you aren’t happy with the response escalate to the social worker’s manager. Don’t worry about imploding the family - clearly your aunt isn’t

If you feel he lacks capacity who arranged the carers and is paying the bills

That's a bit worrying but if you can find grandmother will online it may state who the executor and solicitors were

The level of capacity needed to make a will ( testamentary capacity) is higher than that required to appoint a POA. It is quite in depth. A decent solicitor would be very careful with this ( but they don’t all care)
The problem is that proving that someone didn’t have testamentary capacity at the point the will was written is difficult in retrospect. So contesting a will after someone’s death is problematic.
Are you in a position to take your grandfather to the solicitor to ask about the will. Would he even agree to this. You could explain your concerns to the solicitor and be clear that you are questioning his capacity. The solicitor can then instruct someone ( usually a psychiatrist) to assess this properly.
The memory clinic may well be able to help you with issues around capacity, care homes and POAs . But an assessment of testamentary capacity is more in depth and so usually done on a private basis.

Unless he is assessed independently, he will be counted as having mental capacity for LPA purposes.

But, LPA doesn’t mean anyone can just run riot.

If you wish to challenge anyone getting LPA then you can do it via the Pubic Guardians Office.

He’s still alive so it seems a bit premature to be worrying about who will inherit what. 🤷‍♀️

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Does your grandad know where his will is, or what's in it, does he remember. Who was the executor or solicitor for your grandmother's will.

Technically you do need to have capacity to enter into an LPA. However, you can do it yourself with the right forms and there is not really much checking. You can carry out a check if one exists, but having had the issue within my family, it takes time and considerable effort to remove and SS did not seem to be very interested TBH. Wills are even worse. You will have no idea if a new will has been done and these do not need to be registered anywhere. The best option might be for you and your aunt to both have POA, but if you are not in agreement on care arrangements then this is not going to work

Who diagnosed his dementia, the GP or nurse can carry out a capacity assessment and you and the carers can report your concerns to the safeguarding team. Have you seen his will, are you named beneficiary, is your aunt named at all. Do you know the name of the solicitors, you can call them. You can also raise concerns with his GP and care agency manager, who is funding his care package and dealing with his finances at the moment.

It's unwise to only have one attorney on an LPoA. Why not suggest to your aunt that you are both attorneys for him and that you draw it up with the help of the solicitor? If the solicitor is involved in the LPoA then they should get an idea of capacity as part of this process. If you feel your aunt is being coerced by a partner, then this could help cut the partner out of the process.

It’s a bit late to be getting LPA if he has a formal dementia diagnosis. If your Aunt does manage to do this (she doesn’t need a solicitor it’s easy to do yourself Ave as others have said she could get someone to witness it who happy to agree he has capacity) then you can contact the Office of the Public Guardian and raise your concerns with them. She can’t re write his will. She can take him to the solicitor but she won’t be allowed to sit in with him whilst he has it rewritten. I have been through this with an elderly relative who wanted me in with her when speaking to the solicitor as she was very deaf. The solicitor was very clear that this was not possible as I was a beneficiary(quite rightly). If your Aunt is a beneficiary then she can’t be there. Also wills normally contain instructions as to what happens if a beneficiary predeceases the will writer, so they don’t need rewriting. The solicitor will also need to certain your Gd has capacity.

I’ve found if relatives are devious and get old/dying people to change the will in their favour, then nothing can be done, they just get away with it. You can detest a will but it costs multiple of thousands and it’s likely you will still get nowhere. We need new laws to prevent this really but we don’t.