Possible Financial Abuse: Elderly Mother

[Alessandrina]

I hope one of you Mumsnetters may offer guidance here. My elderly mother, who has dementia, has recently moved into a care home. My sister, brother, and I as POAs now have the job of sorting out her affairs, including selling her house. We were aware that she had taken out an equity release around thirty years ago, in fact my sister had witnessed her signature for this in a solicitor’s office. It has come to light that our mother then took out further equity releases amounting in a huge sum of money (in excess of half a million pounds). None of us were aware of this. The confusing thing is, we have no idea what she did with this money. She led a frugal lifestyle, no holidays, no major house improvements. My sister suspects coercion. Is it possible to find out who witnessed her signature for these loans? Have any of you experienced anything similar?

Did the money not go in to her own bank account?

We have no way of checking. I asked for back statements of her account and they are only kept for the past six years. We can’t find any old bank statements kept in her house either 😔

If you have poa the company loaning the £ should be able to give you the information?

Thank you. We are in the process of registering our POA with them. So far we have just seen statements from them, but will certainly try to find out who the co-signatories were.

Have you explained the situation to the bank? Are they able to tell your if the money was ever in her account?
This may help re. tracking down any other accounts
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/debt-savings/how-to-trace-lost-money/

That’s useful; thanks.