Solicitor with LPA

[Spiro]

Does anyone have experience of a solicitor having LPA for property and financial affairs?

Recently the donor changed care homes as the one they were resident in is due to close, but it appears the solicitor was unaware of this. They are self funding.

As I was caring for mum I did not get involved in the original move to a care home, but the other day the donor contacted me and asked me to be their attorney - I agreed, not realizing they had already appointed the solicitor.

I am concerned that the solicitor was unaware they needed to move. Apparently there is also a financial advisor, but it seems they were unaware that the solicitor had LPA for P & F. The home gave me all this info.

The donor is now showing signs of memory loss and tells me that they have a good solicitor.

 

[nitram]

Thanks for your PM.

Your post is short of detail.

The fact that the solicitor has LPA does not in itself mean that need to know anything about the donor's finances or even if they are in a home.

It is only when the donor becomes incapable of fully handling their own finances that the solicitor has to be involved.

The donor could still be capable of organising the care home payment and consulting an FA.

 

[Spiro]

Thanks for replying Nitram. How much more detail do you require? As this is a public forum I may need to PM you the details.

 

[nitram]

I don't want any details that can be used to identify anywhere or anybody.

Is the solicitor currently handling the finances?

If so I find it hard to believe that they did not know about the move, invoices would have changed.

As financial attorney the solicitor is not concerned about the need to move.

As the donor is self funding if the move was to a home with a largely increased fee they might point out the additional impact on the donor's assets.

If the home knew that the solicitor was handling the finances I feel they should have informed them about the IFA, not sure about the strict legality of this but think the home have a duty of care to protect their residents.

 

[Kevinl]

I don't really understand, the solicitor has an LPA for property and finance so they have to make sure the bills get paid so surely someone would have contacted them to tell them to redirect the payments to the new home. If they moved homes but to another home within the same group they maybe this wasn't necessary as the money still went to head office or if the payments were made via the Local Authority. they may not have been told.
Either way up the solicitors don't have an LPA for health and welfare which is what this would come under I would have thought. The physical location of the person and it's suitability and the level of care isn't a P&F matter it's an H&W matter.
I can understand the solicitor may have an opinion if you wanted to move them to somewhere costing £5K a week when local costs are £1k PW as being unnecessary, but other than that it's not a P&F issue in my opinion.
I can't see how it's for the solicitor to keep checking where everyone is all the time, someone should be telling them when there is a change in the situation. I'm surprised the new home didn't contact them to get paid or that whoever organised the move didn't tell them. Sounds like a breakdown in communication rather than the solicitor being negligent.
K

 

[Spiro]

Update

As the donor is self funding if the move was to a home with a largely increased fee they might point out the additional impact on the donor's assets.

This was a concern, but the FA has assured me that they have sufficient funds.

I can't see how it's for the solicitor to keep checking where everyone is all the time, someone should be telling them when there is a change in the situation. I'm surprised the new home didn't contact them to get paid or that whoever organised the move didn't tell them. Sounds like a breakdown in communication rather than the solicitor being negligent.

It's possible the previous home didn't contact the solicitor about the move and this might explain why they didn't know.

The new home only enquired about the LPA's when they became aware of the donor's memory loss, which became apparent shortly after the transfer. Interestingly, the donor asked the home to contact me, not the solicitor!

I can only hope the donor understands how much the solicitor will charge to manage their finances. Ideally, the solicitor would have checked the new home's Ts & Cs before the move took place.

Thank you for your feedback.