Court of Protection for grandmother. Advice really needed.

[SiriusStar]

My grandfather has had power of attorney for my Nan. She is in a home and her mental capacity is failing. She does not recognise me but does other family members who see her regularly.
My grandfather is in a hospice with recently diagnosed cancer.
Her home bills have not been paid due to GF being in hospital.
My mum was only child and she died years ago.
So it's me.

Not sure she is eligible for POA. I am hearing scary stuff about court of protection.

My head is spinning.
Anyone know what is best to do? What happens if nothing is done and my GF dies? How do things get paid?
Man this is such a mess.

I need to get things sorted before he dies which is not going to be that far off.

sorry can't be of help but bumping thread for you

Court of Protection.
2 Archway Tower. London N19 5SZ

0845 330 2900

They probably have a web site as well.

Have you got an Age Concern advice shop near you?

Ask the Hospital Social Worker for help with your GrandFather. He needs to apply for Benefits for himself.

It depends what type of power of attorney she has made. If it is an old style Enduring Power of Attorney, your grandfather can use it now without registering it with the court of protection. An EPA only needs to be registered once your grandmother has lost her mental capacity.

If she has made a new style Lasting Power of Attorney, it will need to be registered before it can be used. This can be done now, although she still has capacity. It takes a few months, and cannot be used until registered.

Both forms will allow your grandfather to act in place of your grandmother in respect of her financial affairs just as she would have done herself (except some restrictions on making gifts). He will be required to keep records, and the court of protection website provides good guidance on this.

If, as you say, your grandmother still has mental capacity and you are worried about your grandfather dying before her, it would be worthwhile to ask her if she would like to make a new Lasting Power of Attorney (it is no longer possible to make old style EPAs unfortunately) appointing someone else as an attorney in addition to your grandfather. You can appoint more than one to act 'together and separately'.

In terms of cost, the court of protection provides the forms and guidance on their website for free, but you will need to pay a fee to them to register this new LPA.

In answer to your question, if nothing is done and your grandfather dies, and your grandmother has not appointed an alternative attorney, you would need to make a deputyship application to the court of protection to manage her affairs. This is a much more longwinded and expensive exercise, and carries more restrictions. So if at all possible I would try and get an LPA in place provided she has capacity. If she doesn't unfortunately, deputyship is the only way to go.

Hope this helps a bit, good luck.

This may help here as my mums just looked at doing this.

Hi, I work in a solicitors in the Private Client Department. It sounds like as your grandfather is so ill even if the Power of Attorney was registered he would not be able to act on behalf of your grandmother because of his own situation. The two options are as follows:-

1. Lasting Power of Attorney. A new form can be set up, however in the case of a person with dementia the only person who can act as the Certificate Provider (the person who confirms capacity) should be the person's GP or preferably the Consultant who is overseeing her care. The Consultant should carry out an assessment of capacity. If she has capacity then a new Power of Attorney can be created but you would need to decide who is going to be the Attorney. I would recommend seeing a solicitor about this. My firm charges £200.00 plus VAT and the Office of the Public Guardian charge £120.00 to register the document.

1. Court of Protection Order. This is a far more involved and expensive process but an emergency application can be done to release funds from a specific account (for example to pay for the care home fees) at the same time as the application for the Deputyship Order is submitted. The fees for a Deputyship order are set by the Court and not by solicitors. This is usually £825.00 for the solicitors fees as well as the £400.00 Court fee. Again you should see a solicitor.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for the info, I knew I would get answers from mumsnet. my dh raises his eye brows when I mention posting here but voila!

Small point but Court Registration fees for Enduring and Lasting Powers of Attorney are on a sliding scale depending on the income of the applicant.

Under £12,000 and there is no Court Fee.
Over £16,500 and the full £120 per EPA/ LPA is payable.

Mumsnet readers should consider getting the registration done when they are on home duty with low or no income. You can do the LPAs yourself, so cost is no excuse, but it is better to get advice - but don't pay the silly fees charged by some firms -the person up above is very fair (though we charge a little less!!)

NO ONE is exempt from accident, stroke or other illness at any age, acquiring Wills and both Lasting Powers of Attorney (probably Finance first, then Welfare) can stop utter disaster striking if things go wrong.

I could go on (indeed, I've written a book about it!) but this stuff is REALLY important!