Safety of mirror wills? One person has dementia and assets are shared, one sibling has poa.

[MirrorWills]

Same situation new aspect.

Elderly married couple have mirror wills, their assets and money are mostly shared some shares in dad's name and pension etc.

Dad didn't want anyone except daughter 2 to be his executor. Now he has dementia.

Can his wife suddenly get her own will drawn up?

Mum has daughter 1 as poa even though she's OK but wants support.

House is sold and a large amount of money is about to go into a bank account that daughter 1 has access too.

A will was changed, whose?
What's to stop daughter one from syphoning off all the money?

The wife, if she has capacity, can change her will if she wants.
POA brings with it legal responsibility, if someone acts against that responsibility there are legal ramifications.

What's to stop daughter one from syphoning off all the money?

An attorney is required to act in the best interests of the person they are responsible for. If she were taking the money for her own use, she could be reported to the Office of the Public Guardian and there would be legal consequences.

Are they mirror or mutual?

If mirror, she will likely have to go somewhere else

@Hadalifeonce thanks so essentially the dad sort of becomes a non entity here and mum can have everything.
And daughter can if she wants spends their money?

How could anyone accuse daughter 1 of anything if no one knows what she's taking or how much money their is

Hang on

Are you concerned about undue influence being exerted over mum? Your posts aren't very clear

Not 100 sure.
It was only ever known there was one will.

But if the house was in joint names and now it's sold the money can go into a joint bank or to mum bank soley.

So do wills even matter if the main asset has been sold and the monies go to mum?

The solicitor shouldn't be paying it to anyone but the owners. So to both, not just to mum.

How could anyone accuse daughter 1 of anything if no one knows what she's taking or how much money their is

If concerns are reported to the Office of the Public Guardian, they have powers to investigate. They can look at things like bank records, pension records.

That money is still half the dads though, right? And you D2 still has his POA?

How is dad's dementia care being paid for? That will be expected to come out of his half of the house proceeds surely? You can bet social services will be interested if that's suddenly gone. That's deprivation of assets. So no, dad is not a nonentity

There will be a record of the house sale and at what price. That can't be hidden.

It was only ever known there was one will.

there will have been 2 wills. Even with a mirror will, you get one each.

and yes, anyone can change their will at any point as long as they have capacity. It doesn’t matter about anyone else’s will.

Executors only act once someone is dead.
Attorneys act when someone either looses mental capacity or is requested to act by the "donor" ie. the person who gave permission for the power of attorney.

@ConiferBat it should be half dad's yes.

He's being managed at home at the moment but moving to a flat so the house money will be sloshing about soon.

He has no poa.

Where is Mum living now? Will the money be needed to house her?

You need a deputy order re dad if he's lost capacity

So do wills even matter if the main asset has been sold and the monies go to mum?

The wills only matter after someone has died. From what you have written, both husband and wife are still living.

OP, can you lay out what your concerns are?

Does dad have capacity? Is mum being influenced to change her will? Is the daughter acting out as POA?

So the dad doesn't have anyone who has power of attorney for him. Now he has dementia. That's a problem as only he has control over his own assets and he may soon/already not be in a position to exercise that control.

You seem to be assuming that as the house and or savings are joint assets,and he has dementia, they all somehow become the mum's to do as she wishes with. That's not the case and his care will be expected to be funded from those assets. Someone can't just say 'oh well the house money all went to mum and she's let child 2 take it over'. That would be looked at by the local authority who will not want to pay that themselves and shouldn't have to. There may not be much inheritance for anyone down the line, depending on what care both parents need given time.

When you say money is shared do you mean joint bank account? If so then both daughters with POA would have access to that account.

The money can be paid into a sole account owned by mom but would need permission of daughter 2 on behalf of dad and would have to transfer half of the money either to a joint account or sole account for dad. (Not sure where she would stand if dad did not have a sole account already in terms of setting one up - the legalities of this would need to be checked).

The poster who said Social Services would want to take into account for any care is correct in so much as they would factor is dads half of the asset (and this also goes for mom should she need care - even if it is in a few years time).

In terms of wills - whichever person was to die first, everything in any joint accounts would pass automatically to the surviving spouse regardless of any will or POA. Assets in sole names would be divided as per the terms of the will.

So for example...if mom moved her money from the house sale into a sole account she could change her will to leave it to whoever she wanted.

Dad obviously can't if the level of his dementia lacks capacity so anything in joint account would go to mom if dad passed first and anything in his sole name would be divided as per the terms of the will.

Ahh - OK. Dad needs a POA now. Does he still have capacity or is his dementia too advanced?

If he has capacity financial POA needs to be applied for immediately while he can still sign it.

If he no longer has capacity an application will need to be submitted to the Office of the Public Guardian.

Adults social care will need to support with this as either way a mental capacity assessment will need to be undertaken.

You need to start over.

Wills and executors are completely irrelevant here as nobody has died.

If father is the one with dementia, he needs POA. Yes, your parents can do whatever they want with their money. If mum is of sound mind, she can give the lot to sibling ( although deprivation of assets might come into play if father is in care home soon?)

Will parents be living in the flat together?

Can anyone apply for that poa

Yes so far together

Dad has to have capacity to give a power of attorney. If he's lost capacity, you have to apply for deputy ship. Provided you meet the standards required (you are fiscally sound yourself) you could be a deputy. Costs a lot of money to get and sometimes many months extending to years.