Any experience sorting out LPA for parent with dementia

[Chocolation]

can anyone offer advice on sorting kut an LPA for a parent either early stage dementia?

My dad thought they had one in place. He and my stepmum did LPAs about 10 years ago themselves. Unfortunately it transpires that there was an error with date of birth being transposed (day swapped with month) so I have been told it is not valid. I need to put another in place ASAP. As he was diagnosed with dementia last year it means I need someone to certify he has capacity. His GPs say they don’t do this and it needs to be a solicitor. Solicitors I have contacted says it needs to be a GP!

He still lives independently and is fine doing so. He needs some support with appointments / dates. He does his own shopping (but I need to keep an eye on BBE dates and make sure he doesn’t buy too much of one item when he forgets he already has that in).

has anyone any experince of this and can advise?

Who diagnosed his dementia, I'm surprised the GP won't do it, they usually do for a fee, does he have a hospital doctor who might help. Have you chosen the attorneys and certificate provider with him yet. If the doctor still says no then can you try another solicitor who specialises in lpa. If he doesn't have capacity you'll need to apply for deputyship but fingers crossed. Try AgeUK and dementia uk for advice.

If he already has dementia it might be too late now

You can’t get LPA for someone who doesn’t have capacity

Does he have capacity? Certificate provider just needs to be someone who has known him for 2 years and agrees he understands what's going on.

A friend? Next door neighbour?

Capacity is assumed unless proven otherwise, but if there is any doubt especially because he already has a dementia diagnosis (he can still have capacity with a diagnosis) then definitely get a doctor or solicitor who completes LPA's to do it.

You could get a long term friend or neighbour to do it if they have known him for longer than 2 years. It must be an independent third party, so not an in-law.

https://tsfassessments.co.uk/

This company provides assessment for a fee.

[Caveat; I can be a bit breezy about this stuff].

If your dad is capable of having the discussion with you, [oh the LPA has an error, we need to do it again. Do you know what it helps with dad? You don’t remember? It lets me make decisions for you if you can’t. Can you tell me what it does? (It means you can decide for me.) Yes that’s right dad, sounds good, let’s get it signed] imo just go ahead and do it from the gov.uk website. Where I differ from @Choconuttolata its because it sounds to me as if nobody is going to object to your involvement, so there is no doubt to entertain tbh. I wouldn’t see an issue with what is effectively just fixing a minor administrative fuckup, as long as he can have a discussion at that level.

Thr only thing that would give me pause is if your dad has recently had a medical episode where he was documented as not having capacity for decisions of a similar magnitude. If that hasn’t happened, I would assume capacity and go ahead.

If he can’t recall what it’s for even if you’ve just told him, then that’s more difficult. Try writing it down for him and see if that works.

Thank you everyone. I think he does have capacity to decide yes. It is early stage so he does understand things. It’s more his memory that is impaired and his concept of time at the moment, as opposed to understanding and deciding things for himself. He lives independently and he doesn’t need me to go round to check on him everyday - just 2 or 3 times a week at the moment. I’m aware this will increase though so it the LPA is something I need to sort ASAP.

We do have a family friend who is happy to sign, I just want to dot the i’s and cross the t’s so to speak on case there is any issue raised down the line.

it was more to know if anyone has dealt with something like this before themselves and who they used?

My MIL completed hers after a diagnosis of dementia. She was still living at home, minimal care needed.
The issue will only arise if it seems like you are exploiting your DM down the line. If you are managing her finances to support her needs then that’s going to be fine. If, however, suddenly you’re transferring 100’s of £s into your own bank account it’s going to raise suspicions at her bank.
If you’re at all concerned, use a solicitor to complete the application - if only for the guarantee that it will be done correctly this time as you can’t really afford to delay it much longer. I believe it’ll cost around £400.

We used a solicitor to do LPAs for my in laws when mil was in the early stages of dementia. Part of the reason for getting the solicitor to do it was so there would be no question that it was legit.

The person doesn't have to have capacity to do everything in every situation, but needs to be able to understand and agree to the terms of the LPA.

It doe not have to be a GP or solicitor. The Government website says someone who has know the person for 2 years but not a relative. I got my mums neighbour

I picked a local solicitor from the Alzheimer's Scotland charity list. Those listed have experience in talking to people with early stage dementia. The system is slow to get the LPOA approved unfortunately.

We have just done my MIL's LPA. She's been diagnosed with dementia for about 18 months but we had some other complications to deal with (long story). She's still mostly ok, most of the time but she has good days and bad days. One of the GPs signed the certificate. We had to pay privately to do this as they said it wasn't an NHS service. He spent a fair bit of time chatting with her and in the end he was happy to do it. It cost about £300 but absolutely well worth it to get it done. We did approach a solicitor to sign but she was reluctant to do it due to the Alzheimer's diagnosis and suggested that a medical professional would be more appropriate.

It was a last ditch effort as we thought we'd have to go for deputyship which would have been much more costly and complicated.
Talk to the GP and see if this is something they might consider, especially if your dad is still mostly lucid

I’ve just done them for my FIL and nowhere does it ask for certification of capacity! Just ask someone who’s known them a while to sign.

Thank you. I will look to see if there is an England. Hopefully this will solve it 🤞🏻

No but it does ask if there are any concerns which hopefully someone would consider with a diagnosis of dementia, especially if they are not an expert in that field.

It was the Office of Public Guardian that said as he has dementia I need to get someone to certify he has capacity. It was when phoning them to get a copy of the LPA to give to his bank, that the birth date error came to light on his original LPA. This is when they said he needs a GP to certify capacity. If he hadn’t been diagnosed with dementia it would be easy.

Was there already an lpa sent but it was invalid because the birth date was wrong, how did the opg know he had dementia, was it written on the lpa form. Was there a capacity statement on the original forms.

If your family friend meets the criteria and is happy to sign, why complicate things? Just do it. You could also make a record of her having capacity despite the dementia diagnosis for future reference.

*him (sorry)

My elderly relative’s LPA for health and welfare was signed after she was already in a nursing home with dementia. It was signed/certified by a long term friend, and while she wasn’t really capable of living on her own, she had enough competency to understand that she did want her sister and niece to be able to talk to the doctors etc for her. They already had LPA for finance. The nursing home were v keen that it was put in place.

it helped that there were no other relatives who were going to object (those around were just glad that someone was taking on responsibility) and possibly it helped that she was a self funder so no question of a local authority wanting to be involved in the decision about the nursing home etc.

I think though this may be more problematic if the OPG are saying competency needs to be certified - though I would say a long term friend probably has a better idea than a solicitor that the person knows what they are signing.

Thank you, will look into this too