can a solicitor do this

[kitty808]

My nana has gone into a care home. The socal worker has told my evil aunty (her daughter) that she doent have capasity to get power of attorney of my nana. I received a solicitor letter saying they had been contacted by my nana to represent her. My aunty is behind this and the solicitor is a friend of my aunty. Is there anywhere I can go for help and see paper work to see if they actually visited my nana
X

 

[nitram]

You could check the care home's visitors' book.

 

[balloo]

My nana has gone into a care home. The social worker has told my evil aunty (her daughter) that she doesn't have capacity to get power of attorney of my nana. I received a solicitor letter saying they had been contacted by my nanna to represent her. My aunty is behind this and the solicitor is a friend of my aunty. Is there anywhere I can go for help and see paper work to see if they actually visited my nanna
X

i know when we got it for MIL my daughter got sent a letter telling her and saying if she had any issues with it to contact the solicitor. she did not as she knew it was best thing for her gran. you could contact aanother solicitor but not sure what can be done . if the solicitor thinks your gran does not have capacity he should not be doing this.

 

[marionq]

If you have doubts about the solicitor's role in this then contact the Law Society and tell the solicitor you are doing this.

 

[Kevinl]

If your nana has lost capacity and no one has a Lasting Power of Attorney for her then the Court of Protection will have to appoint someone as her deputy, most people use a solicitor to deal with the CoP, until then no one can access her bank, sell her house or anything and certainly cannot make or change a will. Factsheet below.
K
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=2478

 

[care2share]

My nana has gone into a care home. The socal worker has told my evil aunty (her daughter) that she doent have capasity to get power of attorney of my nana. I received a solicitor letter saying they had been contacted by my nana to represent her. My aunty is behind this and the solicitor is a friend of my aunty. Is there anywhere I can go for help and see paper work to see if they actually visited my nana
X

I believe solicitors who are also a personal friend or relative are not supposed to act for you. Could be wrong though.

 

[Kevinl]

I believe solicitors who are also a personal friend or relative are not supposed to act for you. Could be wrong though.

I guess it depends on what "contacted by my nana to represent her" means exactly.
I can't see a way they can do this that doesn't involve a CoP deputyship.
If so Kitty could just write back and say if they do apply to be a deputy she will oppose it with the CoP as a conflict of interest being a friend of one side of a divided family.
K

 

[Pete R]

My nana has gone into a care home. The socal worker has told my evil aunty (her daughter) that she doent have capasity to get power of attorney of my nana. I received a solicitor letter saying they had been contacted by my nana to represent her. My aunty is behind this and the solicitor is a friend of my aunty. Is there anywhere I can go for help and see paper work to see if they actually visited my nana
X

Just having the say of a SW is not really enough to prevent the solicitor obtaining PoA if they are satisfied that at the time of your Nana signing the forms she understood what she was doing. She doesn't have to remember it later but the solicitor will have to be very careful to do things correctly.

Is there a reason you can think of why the solicitor would write to you? If it was an "underhand" way for the daughter getting PoA why would they bother?

You can check with the Office of the Public Guardian at any time to see if a PoA is in place or has been applied for. You and the SW can then make representation.

https://www.gov.uk/find-someones-attorney-or-deputy

 

[Pete R]

I can't see a way they can do this that doesn't involve a CoP deputyship.

Because the opinion of the SW was at the time she was assessed and does not mean she cannot make any decisions at all. As has been mentioned on here many a time the person only has to understand the forms at the time of signing.

I had a bad problem with an SW who did a laughable assessment of my Mom and deemed her incapable of making decisions whilst my application for PoA was with the OPG. It was still granted even though they were made aware of the SW report. However I do doubt it would have been if the had been any family dispute as is the case of the OP.

 

[Kevinl]

satisfied that at the time of your Nana signing the forms she understood what she was doing. She doesn't have to remember it later but the solicitor will have to be very careful to do things correctly.]

Section 3, 1 (b) of the 2005 Mental Capacity Act states that;

3 Inability to make decisions
(1)For the purposes of section 2, a person is unable to make a decision for himself if he is unable—
(a) to understand the information relevant to the decision,
(b) to retain that information,"

Retain/remember it's an interesting question what the difference is?
I mention this just because if Kitty's nana did sign something and the solicitor said they could do it as she understood at the time then I would ask them to prove she retained the information too as the law (to me at any rate) seems to say.
K

 

[kitty808]

Thank you everyone for all your advice...it has given me a boost and I will do some investigating a let you know Xx

 

[Pete R]

Section 3, 1 (b) of the 2005 Mental Capacity Act states that;

3 Inability to make decisions
(1)For the purposes of section 2, a person is unable to make a decision for himself if he is unable—
(a) to understand the information relevant to the decision,
(b) to retain that information,"

Retain/remember it's an interesting question what the difference is?
I mention this just because if Kitty's nana did sign something and the solicitor said they could do it as she understood at the time then I would ask them to prove she retained the information too as the law (to me at any rate) seems to say.
K

With all Acts/Legislation/Guidance it is important to read the relevant section as a whole and not just cherry pick snippets as often there are explanations to intended meanings.

In Sec 3 "Inability to make decisions" the next two sub sections state...........

(2) A person is not to be regarded as unable to understand the information relevant to a decision if he is able to understand an explanation of it given to him in a way that is appropriate to his circumstances (using simple language, visual aids or any other means).

(3) The fact that a person is able to retain the information relevant to a decision for a short period only does not prevent him from being regarded as able to make the decision.

Hope that helps.

 

[jaymor]

When we did ours the solicitor asked my husband did he know why he was there. ' Yes to let my wife deal with my money if I can't', he also added that it would make no difference, I had been doing it for years.

She was happy to go ahead although she knew he would not retain the information but understood when asked.