Is the right?

[Jess040404]

My mum lives alone and has alzheimers, which at the moment is just very short term memory loss, she lives on her own and is 73. My sister and her husband have taken charge of her finances and in my opinion have been acting underhand. They claim an attendance allowance which is paid into my mums bank account which they take out (the whole amount) every month. They maybe see her once a week, take her to hospital appointments and that's about it. They also closed her bank accounts with £115k in put the money in accounts in their name only. I found out about this and they have since put it back but they are still spending for other things from mums money. Does anyone have have any advice. Thanks.

Does your sister have power of attorney for financial matters for mum and has it been registered with the Court of Protection?

You need to get Power of Attorney to have control of someones finances, it has to be done via a solictor. They would be unable to open / close bank accounts without this
in addition please contact council as I don't think you have to pay council tax if you are diagnosed with dementia.

Yes my sister has power of attorney but it hasn't been registered yet.

I believe they closed the accounts to hide the money from me as I was not aware she had that much in savings.

be careful - if your mum needs care she will have to meet the cost from her savings, if it is wasted by Dsis it may be deprivation of capital.

contact your local social services department and they can investigate with the police. what you have described is financial abuse and should be dealt with. They cannot hide her money if they have POA they should be acting in her best interests if they are not it should be revoked.

This is financial abuse. You need to ask social services to raise a SOVA alert (safeguarding of vulnerable adults).

Attendance Allowance is your Mum's. If they care 35hrs+ per week for your mum they can claim carers allowance.

Thanks for all your replies, you have all been a great help. Sorry for the error in the title, meant to put "is this right?", or maybe I should of put "is this fraud?"

The attendance allowance is your mums. She can spend it how she wishes but it's designed to make her life easier so for taxis, cleaners etc.

It is fraud- speak to social services. I'd also speak to the office of the public guardian on 0300 456 0300, they'll tell you what to do.

They also wrote a cheque for £12k which they claim mum agreed to, although she cannot remember, they have paid their own £465 utility bill, sold her car and kept the money, when I spoke with her about it she said I just trying to stir up trouble and that she is doing nothing wrong.

Ugh it sounds awful.

I'm not sure if the police would be interested at this stage but you could try asking age concern for advice. They seem pretty clued up on all things age related and might know how best to approach the situation. They have (sadly) probably seen it happen before.

For a start I'd be insisting on you having joint poa for your dm immediately.