Seeking advice please. Financial LPA.

[Nova1234]

My mum has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and she will be moving into a care home soon. We have already registered a health and welfare LPA. Her social worker completed a financial capacity assessment very recently and said that she still has financial capacity, but only just and has urged us to get on with applying for a financial LPA. I have a couple of questions about filling it in:

Gift giving: My mum has always given my children gifts for their birthdays and Christmas and would like to continue to do so. I have three children and the budget has always been up €50 per child per birthday/Christmas. My mum's care home fees are being paid for by the council under the mental health act aftercare and my mum has a monthly pension of about €2500 so there is no concern of deprivation of assets or putting my mum into financial difficulty. Do I need to write this specific gift giving into the LPA? If so should I write this in the preferences box and how should I word it?

Travel expenses: My mum has her own home which she will be leaving behind. She doesn't want to sell it and as her fees are being funded by the council she doesn't need to. It will require that I make trips to visit the property and maintain it. It's about 112 miles from where I live. I either take a combination of the coach/train or train or my partner drives. My mum is happy to reimburse me for this but do I need to write this into the LPA? If so, do I write it as a preference and how should I word it?

I'm a bit new to LPAs as well but my understanding is that, if the donor still has capacity, set up a paper trail showing that any regular or unusual payments are above board and there wasn't any coercion. Keep the paper trail safe just in case. My daughter is doing it for her dad and she asks him in a letter if he is OK for her to do a, b and c and he responds the same way - she has a folder with them tucked away. Both items you mention seem totally acceptable to me!

Lifestooshort71, thank you

Those examples seem reasonable.
My friend is a senior social worker, and she advised me when you have LPA you mentally have to 'morph' into the other person and think how they would act, sort of 'become them'?
So any gifts they would have made etc, and make difficult decisions without your emotions taking over, think what they would want.

I also kept receipts, bank start to prove all was above board. I know it's hard, but having LPA is a godsend in the long term.

*bank statements should say

@Nova1234 WRT gifts, your Mum can add to her LPA that she wants gifts to family out of income to continue on the same basis. This gives you flexibility.

WRT her property I think you need to be pragmatic. Maintaining and insuring an empty property that is over 100 miles away for potentially years will be a financial drain. It will also be time consuming and you may resent the fact that you are spending time visiting, organising maintenance etc. rather than spending precious time with your Mum. Finally, when your Mum sadly dies you will have the task of clearing and selling the property whilst you are grieving.

I am not saying you have to sell it immediately but starting the process of clearing possessions etc. is sensible. Your Mum will want her clothes, photos, books etc. in the care home so when you visit it will start to feel empty. My parent has advanced dementia and I just don’t tell them about things I know will upset them.

I am sorry your Mum has dementia. From my experience talk to her about the important things and document them e.g. her likes and dislikes in terms of food, music, tv as well as a PeACE plan, funeral arrangements etc.

GrillaMilla thank you. I'll definitely keep all the receipts, statements etc.

@Kirschcherries My mum has financial competency at the moment so I can't sell the house. There is already a lot to do to the house in terms of tidying and repairs, it has been very neglected. My mum is a hoarder. When she loses financial competency I don't know what I'll do regarding the house. I don't want to sell it whilst she's alive but I've had the same thoughts that you expressed about maintaining, insuring and keeping an empty property secure and I know it could be more upsetting and stressful selling it after she passes, whilst I'm grieving. I'm finding it quite overwhelming at the moment. I'm an only child. I'm just trying to take things one step at a time. Thank you for your advice.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/655c8422544aea0019fb3167/lp14-how-to-be-a-property-and-finances-attorney.pdf

This might help.

You can take reasonably incurred expenses, but you can't make a profit and you can't charge for your time.

Once you have the LPA you can sell the house whether she wants to or not, and whether she has capacity.

not ethically, obviously. But you can.

i would double check about the financial liability for care though. If she is not paying fees then deprivation of assets is not a concern, as the whole point is trying to give away (deprive) yourself of assets so you don’t pay care fees. If she’s not paying it’s not relevant. But my understanding is if you have assets over a certain amount then you are liable?

gifting you can follow normal patterns with no problem. What you can’t do is decide to gift yourself thousands because you decide they would have wanted you to have the money.

yes, people do that.

I do understand as my parent was incredibly stubborn when they had capacity and wouldn’t make decisions. I’m now further down the road and I can’t see what I could have done differently.

My advice is one step at a time, and prioritise what is achievable now.