help on epa
filipino65
hi, i believe my sister has a unregistered epa over my mother, which i
believe was signed just weeks before my mother had a breakdown 4years
ago, and she was sectioned under the mental health act. my mother is in
a residential care home now and has been for the last 3 yrs, and she
remembers nothing at all of her past.
i live in my mothers house, have done all my life, and a few weeks ago,
i received a letter form my sister telling me that she wants me to move
out within 2 months or she will take legal action against me, as our
mother has expressed a wish to live with her, which i don't believe as
i have had to remind my mother many times she owns a house. and when i
asked her about it, she told me its got nothing to do with her, when i
questioned my sister, she said she was going to sell my moms house and
her house and buy a larger house so my mom could live with her, when i
asked her about who would own the larger house she said she would and my
mom would own none of it.
there has been a incidence with my sister before, where she manipulated
my mom, who got our step dad to sell a house he owned to her at a very
cheap price, saying her daughter was going to live there, but she never
did, and the house was sold a few years later at more than 4 times the
price she paid my step father.
i've check with the opg and they cannot find anything using my mothers
name, and i've read that once my mom had lost her mental capacity, that
my sister should have registered the epa with the opg/court of
protection, which it looks like she didn't do, also my or my brother
have received nothing to say she has power of attorney over my mom, i'm
only presuming she has, thou i believe she has.
i believe she can still register the epa with the opg? even thou she
should have done more than 3yrs ago when my mom was sectioned ?
and if she does i and my bother can object to her being a power of
attorney ?
, on the basis that shes not acting on my mothers best interest and
also she is not suitable because of deception she used to get my step
fathers house in the past, and because she told me and my brother she
was going to sell my moms house and keep all the money.
anyone have any advice as to what i need or can do to stop her selling
my moms house ?
sorry there is a lot more i haven't mentioned. but i will if and when
needed.
please any advice..
--
filipino65
Percy Picacity
news:filipino6...@legalbanter.co.uk:
IANAL and shall not attempt to answer all your questions, but make
some comments. Your sister cannot use the epa if your mother has
now lost capacity, but you need to prove this or she will say she
does not believe it to be true. If she does register it she has to
use your mother's money in your mother's interests and cannot simply
appropriate the money to buy herself a house. You need to contact
the Office of the Public Guardian about both these points. You
cannot directly stop the epa being registered, even though this
could have been done before, but you can point out your doubts about
the suitability of the attorney either to the OPG or by a direct
application to the Court of Protection if they don't seem to be
doing anything about it. However, applying to the Court will cost
quite a bit. It is unlikely to be easy to prove your mother's
capacity at any time in the past for a number of very good reasons,
I would concentrate on the situation now, and who should now act for
your mother. The Court of Protection can appoint a Deputy with all
the relevant financial powers even if no valid EPA or LPA exists.
--
Percy Picacity
filipino65
thanks for the reply percy.
it would be easy to prove my mother lost her mental capacity not long
after signing the EPA, as she was sectioned under the mental health act
and spent nearly 6 months on a psychiatric ward.
are you sure my sister can not use the EPA? why can she not?, i believe
she can still register it anytime, thou she had a duty to register it
when my mother lost her mental capcity, which she didn't do, as i've
contacted OPG and they found nothing when they searched the register.
i think she must be using the EPA, as she has access to my mothers bank
account, i know it is not registered as i've connacted OPG, and the ones
who answer the phone seem clueless about basic procedures, and are not
very helpful.
i couldn't have stopped the EPA as i was not aware of it, again it was
my sisters duty to inform me and my brother that she had my mother sign
the EPA form, which my sister failed to do.
i'm in the process of writing a letter to my sister, asking her, what
authorty does my sister believe she has to deal with my mothers
finances and to try to sell her house.
as i want it in writing that she has/ or think she has power of
attorney. something i'm not 100% sure of at the moment.
--
filipino65
Old Codger
>
> i think she must be using the EPA, as she has access to my mothers bank
> account,
That could be through a completely separate arrangement with the bank.
It would probably have been set up before the EPA and would have given
the named person complete access to your Mother's bank account.
--
Old Codger
e-mail use reply to field
What matters in politics is not what happens, but what you can make
people believe has happened. [Janet Daley 27/8/2003]
Percy Picacity
news:4a3a9a76$0$24010$db0f...@news.zen.co.uk:
> filipino65 wrote:
>>
>> i think she must be using the EPA, as she has access to my
>> mothers bank account,
>
> That could be through a completely separate arrangement with the
> bank. It would probably have been set up before the EPA and would
> have given the named person complete access to your Mother's bank
> account.
>
>
Unless the authority was very broadly written, or effectively a joint
account, it should not continue after she has lost capacity to manage
her affairs. The bank, if told, should freeze the account as currently
no-one, including the account holder can legally draw on it (except
perhaps for necessities).
--
Percy Picacity
Percy Picacity
> thanks for the reply percy.
>
> it would be easy to prove my mother lost her mental capacity not
> long after signing the EPA, as she was sectioned under the mental
> health act and spent nearly 6 months on a psychiatric ward.
But this does *not* prove she has lost capacity to manage her
financial affairs. It only proves she was not able to safely manage
her own illness.
>
> are you sure my sister can not use the EPA? why can she not?, i
> believe she can still register it anytime, thou she had a duty to
> register it when my mother lost her mental capcity, which she
> didn't do, as i've contacted OPG and they found nothing when they
> searched the register.
I did not say she cannot use the epa, I only said it would be
illegal for her to do so! And to knowingly do so without
registering it would undoubtedly be a crime. But it would be so
easy to plead naivety/difference of opinion that it would not be
worth pursuing. You need a court order, or at least a medical
report to the Office of the Public Guardian.
>
> i think she must be using the EPA, as she has access to my mothers
> bank account, i know it is not registered as i've connacted OPG,
> and the ones who answer the phone seem clueless about basic
> procedures, and are not very helpful.
>
> i couldn't have stopped the EPA as i was not aware of it, again it
> was my sisters duty to inform me and my brother that she had my
> mother sign the EPA form, which my sister failed to do.
She may well have had capacity to sign it. You need to worry about
making sure she is not misusing the money, forget about the rights
and wrongs of what happened in the past. She would not have a duty
to tell you if your mother still had capacity to make the decision,
and so far you have presented no good evidence this was not the case
(you may be right but you have not proved it and may well not be
able to).
>
> i'm in the process of writing a letter to my sister, asking her,
> what authorty does my sister believe she has to deal with my
> mothers finances and to try to sell her house.
Get a solicitor to get a report on your mother's capacity to manage
your mother's affairs. Tell your sister she must register the EPA
or it is valueless. Tell the OPG via the solicitor you object to
the registration as you believe your sister is acting improperly.
It will ultimately go to court unless your sister gives in, but if
you are very lucky the OPG will take it to court and you will not
have to.
>
>
> as i want it in writing that she has/ or think she has power of
> attorney. something i'm not 100% sure of at the moment.
>
I don't think she is obliged to tell you this. I think the OPG is,
as you are a close relative, and will have raised doubts about the
probity of the attorney.
--
Percy Picacity
filipino65
thank you again Percy for the reply.
my brother has asked social services to do an annual assessment on my
mother, maybe i can get them to mention whether they think she can
manage her finances herself, but she remembers nothing from the past,
has to be reminded sometimes that she owns a house.
as for not registering the EPA when my mother was sectioned, surely
ignorance of the law is no defence ? my sister or if she used the
solicitor must have read the guidance notes and was aware of what
needing do and when.
i can not see how anyone one would believe my mother had the mental
capacity to manage her finances after she was sectioned, i was told by
the doctors in A & E she would not live, she had a total breakdown, and
was in a coma for more than 3 days, then when she came out of the coma
she was paranoid and crazy for many months, saying i was not her son,
my family were dead (police came to the house to check our daughter was
still alive, as my mom told people she was dead!), for many months she
was only what i could describe as crazy saying there was aliens
everywhere, radiation leaks, we were all imposters etc. she had punched
and bit police officers and doctors and this is a lady in her mid 70's.
would it not be better if i let my sister take me to court to try and
evict me from my mothers house, as i know she has not registered the
EPA, as I believe she cannot sell my mothers house unless she has the
EPA registered so she has no legal right to evict me? or sell the house
( i have a letter signed by my mother more than 6 months before she had
her breakdown, inviting my wife and daughter to come and live with her
for as long as we wanted as my mother sponsored our accommodation for
visa purposes for my wife and daughter), if she does register it before
i go to court i and my brother will object to her having power of
attorney.
i just want in writing that my sister has power of attorney as i have
no evidence to say she has, thou i said before i believe she has. my
brother is looking into contacting the police about how she obtained my
stepfathers house, he believes she used deception to obtain it, saying
her daughter would live there while she went to uni but she never did.
and that's the reason she kept telling my mom, that her daughter and
friends would live there and he was stopping them,so my mother then
pressurized my step father into selling her the house at a really low
price.
--
filipino65
Old Codger
I had this arrangement for my Mother and, although subsequently we set
up an EPA, I continued to use the bank arrangement when dealing with the
bank. I knew about registering the EPA but was unaware that the bank
should be told at that time and that they would then terminate their
arrangement.
Fortunately that point was never reached. Mother remained mentally
capable almost to the very end (couple of days).