Cant get power of attorney, how do i pay the bills?

[TheoriginalLEM]

I just recieved the bill for my mums care home. I assume they would take this money directly from her pensions and beefits. That is not the case so an invoice is raised and i need to set up direct debit for payment.

I cant access my mum's bank account as i dont have power of attorney. Ive always just used her card to get her shopping and cat food, at her request.

She deteriorated quickly and now doesnt have capacity to give me power of attorney.

There is an alternative to go through the courts but it takes ages apparently. What can i do?

Can i take the money from her account and then pay it myself by card? This feels dishonest as she hasnt given permission and of course due to covid i cant see her face to face to discuss it. She is unlikely to comply as she doesnt understand that she is in the home permanently.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

Sorry to hear about your mum - I would get on with making a deputyship application as soon as possible.
What are the care home's terms? Will they wait a while?

If you have your Mothers card use that to pay the home with online

Local authorities will often sort deferred payments whilst going through an application for deputyship. Speak to home and ask who Social worker is. They will have a contact.
If you don’t have LPA you cannot touch her account at all.

Do not access your mothers money or use her card. It is a criminal offence even if your trying to sort her out.

You can do an urgent power of attorney application after you do your power of attorney application, then wait for your actual poa which as you does take time but you need to get that ball rolling

Sorry to hear about your mum decling so quickly

As pp said you can make an urgent application to the court for a one off decision while you put in application for deputyship.... www.gov.uk/emergency-court-of-protection

If she's not got capacity to arrange a Lasting Power of Attorney then she needs a Deputy appointing by Court of Protection - unfortunately this is slow and expensive in comparison to LPA.

Do not, whatever you do, use your mum's card, that is a criminal offence. You are NOT personally responsible for your mum's care home bills so whatever you do do not take on that responsibility. If your mum has lost capacity you will have to apply to be her property and affairs deputy, this will probably cost around £3,000, but if you ask a solicitor to do this they will usually wait until the deputyship comes through to take their fee. It took about three months when I had to do this. Did she go into the care home voluntarily or did Social Services put her there after she became unsafe to lie alone?

if she did not have capacity, who arranged her going into a care home.
if there is no LPA in place, there should have been a social worker involved.to ensure everything was in her best interests.
who signed the entry papers.
i don't see why you have to deal with this.
did you undertake to pay the fees.
contact social services.

It is deputyship you need to apply for. You can no longer be given power of attorney.

Deputyship is the way to go however most local authorities will run a slate for you if they know legal stuff needs to be sorted.

Deputyships take up to six months to come through

You cannot get a POA if she has lost capacity, ignore those advising you to do that. You have to apply for deputyship now instead.

Ps it doesn't cost £3k for an individual property and finance one if you do it yourself. I've done it twice and each was about £600 all in, which you can reimburse yourself from the persons estate.

Give them a call OP. Interim orders in theory can be granted very quickly once you have the paperwork in

Court of Protection
Telephone: 020 7421 8824
Monday to Friday: 10am to 4pm

If your DM is receiving benefits (like state pension) you can request to be her appointee. info here

Social Services should be involved and a care package already in place surely to pay for this?

I'm sure you know you cannot remove any money from your mothers account without her consent.

Appointeeship is only for accessing benefits going forward if that is the only source of income. It wont allow her to access the funds in the bank account which is what she needs to do now. Applying for Deputyship and at the same time applying for an urgent interim order on the specific issue of paying the care home is the only way forward.

Talk to the care home and explain. Some will wait for everything to be put in place and they will have the information you need as to where you can go for help.

Is she self funded or Local Authority funded? If she's self funded she maybe entitled to a 12 week property disregard from the Local Authority. They may also cover her fees until you get the legalities in place.

@TinkersRucksack

Ps it doesn't cost £3k for an individual property and finance one if you do it yourself. I've done it twice and each was about £600 all in, which you can reimburse yourself from the persons estate.

Yes this is true, if you have the time to do it or you are lacking in funds you can apply for deputyship yourself without the help of a solicitor. I didn't have the time and my relative had plenty of money in her estate so I was able to delegate this to a solicitor.

They can take up to six months but in my case it took three, which wasn't too bad.

You can’t get POA after she’s lost capacity, it will have to be through the courts. In the meantime don’t use her card for anything!

Speak to the care home and explain the situation, show them any evidence you have of your mums assets (to show she can pay) and that you’re applying for court of protection. I’m sure they’ll have dealt with this situation before, it’s sadly very common that people want to retain independence and refuse to set up a POA until it’s too late

Ive been using her card to buy catfood for her cat and was using it to do her shopping, with permission obviously, although not sure when her capacity to give that went.

I did sign somethingat the bank about 15 years ago when my dad died so i could help her with money stuff but not sure what powers that gave me, ill call them.

Thank you for the advice, will call the court of protection.

Ling sad story about how mum ended up in carehome etc, it wasn't her decision and at the moment she hasn't been told its permanent.

She lives in council housing and the care home is funded by the council, the bill is to cover what she can afford to pay out of her pension etc leaving her with minimum income.

Have you told the DWP that she is in a care home? You seem a little confused about the funding arrangements - no surprise, it’s a minefield. They won’t be taking payment out of her pension. State pension stops after admission to a care home. You need to know whether they have made a best interest decision about her being in a care home permanently now she has lost capacity.
You should have been involved in decision making.
It does sound like you need to speak to the social worker to understand current funding and plans going forward.
If she has no house to sell, she’ll most likely be funded unless she has significant savings over about, I think, £16,000. Unless she has then she won’t be expected to pay anything.
I think you need clarification about what the care home are charging her for exactly.