My retired parents to Blackpool in 2004. I lived in Oxford.
In 2015 my 82 year old father died.
In May 2016 my 50 year old sister also died.
It soon became apparent to me that my mother wasn't handling life too well.
She was exhibiting all the early signs of the onset of Dementia.
Moving her closer to me in Oxford wasn't financially possible, so I realised all of my assets and bought a house in Blackpool, one that had a large downstairs room that could be adapted as a bedroom for her should the day come that she couldn't manage any longer living independently. I would be in the same town as her and she would be 30 miles from her only surviving sibling (her younger sister) in Blackburn.
What I didn't know was that in August 2016 my brother had taken our mother to a solicitor to get her will changed. My sister was the executor but with her passing my mother's will needed changing.
As well as changing her will my brother also persuaded my mother to sign two LPAs, one for Property and Finances and one for Care and Welfare.
In January 2017 a for sale sign appeared outside my mother's house.
I asked her what was going on. She told me that my brother had arranged for the sign so that they could check out house prices. I asked why she would want to do that. She told me that she was thinking of moving closer to my brother in Middlesex.
I tried to explain the implications of what such a more would bring about and that I had moved lock stock and barrel to Blackpool to support her, plus more importantly she just didn't have sufficient assets to complete such a move.
No matter what I said things gathered momentum and in April 2017 "she" sold her house at less than is was purchased for over 12 years previously.
"She" bought a house in Middlesex for £325,000, which after taking into account, stamp duty, conveyancing fees, removal expenses etc. and her realisable assets, she was about £70,000 short.
When I asked about this, I was told that my brother was making up the difference.
Consequently the house would be purchased in joint names.
I said that if it were purchased in joint names it would attract an extra £18,000 in second home duty as my brother already had a home of his own. The house purchase went ahead with the purchase being made in her sole name. I checked the land registry and her name alone is on the deeds and there is no other interest registered.
I now have to do a 250 mile round trip to visit my mother.
She isn't happy. She is very isolated and depends on my brother for everything.
The signs of dementia continued and an MRI scan revealed that she had a collapsed carotid artery which reduced the supply of blood to her brain. She had a stent inserted and pretty quickly returned to her normal self.
She started to find paperwork in her files that she thought that she had never seen before among which was a notification for a Power of Attorney in favour of my brother.
We discussed this and she told me that she would never agree to handing over control like that, she said that all she signed was will related paperwork.
I said that she could execute a Deed or Revocation and take back control but she said that my brother shouts enough already and that she didn't want to upset him. I printed that Deed out and gave it to her asking her to seriously think about her situation. I said that I was going to contact the issuing solicitor as I wanted to know exactly how the LPA came to be issued. Had a Mental Capability Assessment been carried out etc. I did contact the solicitor but he refused to doscuss any details with me as I wasn't his client.
A couple of days later I spoke to my mother on the telephone and the first thing that she she said was that there was no need to contact the solicitor as it was all sorted. I asked what she meant and she told me that my brother had come round with a form to sign that stated that she fully understood what she was doing when she signed the LPA. I asked her to explain exactly what was said as I am concerned that she is being threatened and intimidated by my brother. As she was starting toexplain, my brother came into her house and took the phone from her and started shouting at me. He told me that "the LPA was legal and had been through the Courts " and that I could do nothing about it. During the following conversation on the phone with me he became increasingly agitated and said "I know where you live and if you don't back off I am going to drive up there and do you in". He also told me that I was no longer to come to vivit my mother and if I did I "would have him to deal with". He explained that he had "a significant investment" in my mother's property and that he could say who could and could not see my mother. He also said that my only motivation was for me to "line my pockets". A few more death threats followed and he hung up on me.
I reported the matter to the Police with the predictable non-interventionist results.
I reported my concerns to the Social Services in the area where my mother lives and I reported the misuse of the LPA to the Office of the Public Guardian.
My brother (the Attorney) set up a joint bank account which has my mother's pensions going into it plus moving our mother away from friends and family incurring a £70,000 debt to him in the process doesn't seem to me to have been in our mother's best interest.
Now here comes the question.
Is there a process where I can retrospectively oppose the registration of the LPA because I feel that it was obtained by intimidation and coercion?
In 2015 my 82 year old father died.
In May 2016 my 50 year old sister also died.
It soon became apparent to me that my mother wasn't handling life too well.
She was exhibiting all the early signs of the onset of Dementia.
Moving her closer to me in Oxford wasn't financially possible, so I realised all of my assets and bought a house in Blackpool, one that had a large downstairs room that could be adapted as a bedroom for her should the day come that she couldn't manage any longer living independently. I would be in the same town as her and she would be 30 miles from her only surviving sibling (her younger sister) in Blackburn.
What I didn't know was that in August 2016 my brother had taken our mother to a solicitor to get her will changed. My sister was the executor but with her passing my mother's will needed changing.
As well as changing her will my brother also persuaded my mother to sign two LPAs, one for Property and Finances and one for Care and Welfare.
In January 2017 a for sale sign appeared outside my mother's house.
I asked her what was going on. She told me that my brother had arranged for the sign so that they could check out house prices. I asked why she would want to do that. She told me that she was thinking of moving closer to my brother in Middlesex.
I tried to explain the implications of what such a more would bring about and that I had moved lock stock and barrel to Blackpool to support her, plus more importantly she just didn't have sufficient assets to complete such a move.
No matter what I said things gathered momentum and in April 2017 "she" sold her house at less than is was purchased for over 12 years previously.
"She" bought a house in Middlesex for £325,000, which after taking into account, stamp duty, conveyancing fees, removal expenses etc. and her realisable assets, she was about £70,000 short.
When I asked about this, I was told that my brother was making up the difference.
Consequently the house would be purchased in joint names.
I said that if it were purchased in joint names it would attract an extra £18,000 in second home duty as my brother already had a home of his own. The house purchase went ahead with the purchase being made in her sole name. I checked the land registry and her name alone is on the deeds and there is no other interest registered.
I now have to do a 250 mile round trip to visit my mother.
She isn't happy. She is very isolated and depends on my brother for everything.
The signs of dementia continued and an MRI scan revealed that she had a collapsed carotid artery which reduced the supply of blood to her brain. She had a stent inserted and pretty quickly returned to her normal self.
She started to find paperwork in her files that she thought that she had never seen before among which was a notification for a Power of Attorney in favour of my brother.
We discussed this and she told me that she would never agree to handing over control like that, she said that all she signed was will related paperwork.
I said that she could execute a Deed or Revocation and take back control but she said that my brother shouts enough already and that she didn't want to upset him. I printed that Deed out and gave it to her asking her to seriously think about her situation. I said that I was going to contact the issuing solicitor as I wanted to know exactly how the LPA came to be issued. Had a Mental Capability Assessment been carried out etc. I did contact the solicitor but he refused to doscuss any details with me as I wasn't his client.
A couple of days later I spoke to my mother on the telephone and the first thing that she she said was that there was no need to contact the solicitor as it was all sorted. I asked what she meant and she told me that my brother had come round with a form to sign that stated that she fully understood what she was doing when she signed the LPA. I asked her to explain exactly what was said as I am concerned that she is being threatened and intimidated by my brother. As she was starting toexplain, my brother came into her house and took the phone from her and started shouting at me. He told me that "the LPA was legal and had been through the Courts " and that I could do nothing about it. During the following conversation on the phone with me he became increasingly agitated and said "I know where you live and if you don't back off I am going to drive up there and do you in". He also told me that I was no longer to come to vivit my mother and if I did I "would have him to deal with". He explained that he had "a significant investment" in my mother's property and that he could say who could and could not see my mother. He also said that my only motivation was for me to "line my pockets". A few more death threats followed and he hung up on me.
I reported the matter to the Police with the predictable non-interventionist results.
I reported my concerns to the Social Services in the area where my mother lives and I reported the misuse of the LPA to the Office of the Public Guardian.
My brother (the Attorney) set up a joint bank account which has my mother's pensions going into it plus moving our mother away from friends and family incurring a £70,000 debt to him in the process doesn't seem to me to have been in our mother's best interest.
Now here comes the question.
Is there a process where I can retrospectively oppose the registration of the LPA because I feel that it was obtained by intimidation and coercion?
