I suffer with Parkinson’s do my wife and I decided to look into Power of Attorney, as we weren’t sure how I may end up, and one thing that spurred us on was not wanting to lose our house to cover the cost of providing residential care to the local council.
We contacted a local solicitor that specialises in this type of legal process it cost around £15000, but we considered it money well spent to protect our assets, it was very straight forward as well.
Would recommend doing it, but shop around
Was it really £15000 or is that a 0 too many by mistake? If it was that much, that is extortionate & I would ask them to justify the fees and/or complain to the Solicitors Regulation Body. Many solicitors do it for considerably less than £1000. https://www.courtofprotectionlawyers.co.uk/lasting-powers-of-attorney/
Thank you. I know if would be a good thing to do. Thank you for taking the time to write so eloquently. Partly, I just have no idea on what kind of thing you can include in an Advance decision when you have Parkinsons and what kind of options you still have to choose from, in different scenarios.
AgeUK or ageCYMRU in my case are a wonderful organisation and have provided us with so much advice. I didn’t even realise my father could get support or that there was online advice for POA. You don’t know what you don’t know!
If you go to the website ‘Compassion in dying’ you can download a form and some notes to help you understand how it all works…Very helpful.
If you would like any more help form someone who has done this, I am happy to share my experiences…I think it is a really valuable document to have, and in my volunteer work for PUK that I now do, I always bring up the value of this document and that health professionals should be asking if they exist and supporting family members to support their relative with PD using the words in the Advance Decision.
I found it so helpful, knowing that some of the difficult decisions I was making were me voicing what my mother could not say for herself - but had shared with me when she could.
Difficult to write but such a support. I think my Mum felt at peace once it was written as some of her worries had been talked about and she knew she had a way to share her thoughts as PD progressed.
Brilliant. Thank you. That is really helpful. I will look it up. I really appreciate it. Everything you have said makes sense. I am sure my mum would feel the same. I know I would.
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Please do this while you are able! I set up financial POA for my husband who has Parkinson’s and now dementia. Unfortunately I did not do the Health and Welfare one because I thought I could be left with an end-of-life decision to make which I wasn’t comfortable with. How I wish I had not taken this decision. Husband was in hospital recently following a fall and I was asked about this. They decided to a TEP (Treatment Escalation Plan). This was done in what seemed like a tick-box exercise with my husband having no idea what was happening. Fortunately a TEP can be overwritten by a new one which was done with the utmost patience and sensitivity by our Admiral nurse who provides the most amazing support. My point is that you should not be having to do these things when under stress from other things happening around you.
Unless you have a business or something that needs managing I would not touch PoA with a big stick.
To regain your control you have take that person to court to overturn it. You are effectively giving up all control of your finances.
Please consider it carefully
Dave
With PoA you have to have sufficient mental capacity to make that application to pass control of your finances to another person
With a Court of Protection order you must have been assessed as having no mental capacity to manage your finances. The Court appoints the applicate to manage your finances and requires them to document any decisions made on your behalf.
A good reference to these matters is in a publication by Age Concern
With due respect @Dave-73 you have misunderstood. Making a LPA for Property & Finances does not hand over control to someone else. They can continue to manage their own finances, or do so with the attorney’s help if they so wish, and it is only if they completely lose capacity that an attorney can take over without their consent.
Hi. I have been recently diagnosed with PD, six months, and have made both financial and health LPAs to my husband via paper copies with the Office of Public Guardianship. Cost me $82 each.
Believing it is better to have them and not need them, than the other way round.
Also with regards Dave 73,you can write in provisos, that your attorney cannot make a serious decision without a doctor\accountants confirmation, after you have diagnosed as mentally unfit.
Hi
I have had an advance decision for about 10 years or more - longer than my first PD diagnosis.
It is something I believe to be a very positive move, but one for each individual and their families.
It is NOT about euthanasia but about dying peacefully when all meaningful life quality and function has gone - again something to be judged by each individual in terms of what is accepatble quality of life.
My advanced decision has been updated and reviewed foue times now - a good idea. I have copies lodged with my GP. PD department, the managemant at the sheltered housing complex in which I live and with my eldest daughter, along with notices in my flat regarding the existence of the document.
The organisation Dignity In Dying has provided me wth excellent advice on this subject.
Take care
Cled
Hi Mountainair
There are many advantages to PoA but I was just giving you my thoughts on the matter
My own experience with PoA may have coloured my opinion
My Dad was housebound for 3 years He never left the house even for a while. A family member had PoA.
“He” used his ATM card everyday and took out the maximum amount of £250 nearly every single Over the course of 3 years £20,000 was taken out of his bank in cash and card transactions and his 2 cars one which he never drove were sold privately for cash. The bank did not want to know and the police said they could do nothing. For my father’s sake it was left at that.
Dave
Hi Dave - you have my sympathies as I’ve been in similar situations where 1) a council homecare assistant stole money from my mother’s handbag shortly before she died; and 2) a “friend” of my father took him out to the cash point several times but took the cash from him. In the first instance the council’s adult protection team (which includes the police and social workers) stepped in after being alerted by me and took action. In the second we were alerted to the unusual behaviour by my father’s bank in a letter to my father - that was the point at which we applied for PoA, with my father’s consent, as being unable to understand money signalled the onset of his dementia.
For the information of others reading this, rather than contacting the bank or police as you did unsuccessfully, if a PoA is in place you can contact the Court of Protection and they can & will investigate and relieve an attorney of their powers https://www.gov.uk/report-concern-about-attorney-deputy-guardian
Alternatively, contact the local adult protection team - their contact details should be on your council website.
The police prosecuted the homecare assistant though it was complicated by my mother’s death in the interim as she was considered a material witness. The “friend” we could not prove but he suddenly disappeared from my father’s life the day he walked up the drive to visit my father, saw me with him & turned and fled. My mother recognised him as he fled.
Best wishes
Thanks
While we were trying to deal with the situation NatWest Bank appointed a Regional Vulnerable Adult Protection Manager who guickly blocked my Dad’s accounts. He said he was aware of many cases where family members had stolen virtually every penny their vulnerable father / mother had saved
L
That’s tough to hear about your Dad’s situation with NatWest. It’s concerning how vulnerable adults can be targeted. It might be worth consulting legal advice on such matters. If you need assistance or information related to financial protection, this site could be helpful: [Medicare Whistleblower Attorney - Federal Lawyer](That’s tough to hear about your Dad’s situation with NatWest. It’s concerning how vulnerable adults can be targeted. It might be worth consulting legal advice on such matters. If you need assistance or information related to financial protection, this site could be helpful: Medicare Whistleblower Attorney - Federal Lawyer).