Grandfather with dementia and possible financial abuse/will change

[Teacup40]

Hi everyone,
My grandfather is in his 90s and after putting himself in some really dangerous situations ( can't go into detail as outing) and obvious confusion we have got a dementia diagnosis.

He clearly has no mental capacity but as I understand it this needs to be assessed separately, my aunt has been pushing to say he has capacity she is next of kin and has been a point of contact for his social worker.

She's told me social worker agrees that dg has capacity and has closed the case but the social worker has not seen him since May his mental and physical decline is recent.

She's saying she wants a lasting power of attorney and has been in touch with solicitors to get a new will drawn up the current will has his deceased wife and my deceased father on it so fathers share would go to me.
Dg is well off, home worth a fair bit and has plenty of savings so I believe she wants it all for herself.

Aunt has never displayed this kind of devious behaviour before and is vulnerable her partner is a narcissist and is doing all the talking/decision making for her.
I think dg needs to be in a care home he is a danger to himself but they don't agree they stand to lose financially if he does.

What can I do? can they change dg will? He made it when he was in his right mind with his wife.
Would a solicitor agree to change it?
I hope this all makes sense I've got a toddler and I'm sleep deprived 🤣 I would really appreciate any help/advise.

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

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.

No he has no idea where it is what it says or which solicitor he did his will with or who the executor is.

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. 🤷‍♀️

i

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.

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

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

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

Your right it is and i feel awful for discussing it, I wouldn't have even given it a thought if my aunt hadn't suddenly announced she needed to get the will changed.

The carers have been in place since before my grandma died and so has payment for them. Bills have direct debits set up this was done when grandfather could manage his finances he wouldn't know how to do it now. Aunt has control of his money at the moment just not formally.

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.

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

@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 £££.

Thank you I'll do that. Yes I've seen it happen in other families just didn't think it would happen in mine probably a bit naive there! Thank you to everyone who has commented its much appreciated.

That's what I thought too, and as we have only just got a dementia diagnosis I've got to prove he doesn't have mental capacity.