Conduct of an LPOA

[ADJ]

Along with my brother and sister we all have an LPOA for my mother who is suffering from dementia. It covers both finances and welfare.
Originally my sister had control of my Mums account but I noticed some worrying signs an attempted to view the statements, but was unable to.
Eventually I arranged a meeting voiced my concerns and eventually arranged for a new account for my Mum that we all had access to, but ensured my sister supplied all the statements for the old account before it was closed down.
on seeing the accounts I noticed that my sister had used money from her account to buy herself meals pay for petrol without my or my brothers knowledge. Is this allowed?
as time went buy I noticed continued expense coming from the account for pub and restaurant expenses. It turned out that both my brother and sister were going out with my Mum and getting her to pay the bill, worryingly though when my brother went out with my Mum her took his whole family and my Mum was paying for the whole familys m?eals and drinks.
It also turned out that my brother and sister had paid themselves £1000 each from my mums account without letting me know.
I have attempted to get both my siblings to request for money to be spent on them and to request authority from all LPOA before any money is passed to their accounts from my Mum. But they still continue to transfer moniey from my mums account to themselves with seeking authorisation from all LPOA's.
Am I write in thinking they need authorisation from all LPOA's before taking money from my mums account?

 

[karaokePete]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

In the hope that it helps, here's a link to the Society Factsheet on LPOA. Just click the PDF line to read or print the document.

Lasting power of attorney (472)
PDF printable version

 

[Sarasa]

My brother and I have LPA for our mother. I'm the one that sees mum most often and also the one that banks with the same bank as her. If I've paid for something out of my own money, I'll transfer the sum from her account to my mine. Mum always loved going out for dinner and she's paid for several meals for various members of the family this year. This isn't anything new, so I don't think we are misusing her account. I always text my brother when I've used mum's account. For instance I transferred £350.00 to my account this week. This was for Christmas money to various members of the family including my brother and his children, something mum has always done. I told my brother I would be doing it, but confirmed by email after I'd done it.
Is paying for meals out with the family something your mum would have done pre-dementia? If so, as long as your siblings let you know there may not be anything sinister about it. Again with money being paid into their accounts from your mothers, though again they should keep you in the loop.
I'd have a gentle chat about it to your siblings first about making sure they let you know about using your mother's account before assuming they are trying to rook your mother.

 

[fortune]

This kind of behaviour is potentially very problematic. Attorneys cannot benefit from their position without approval of the Court of Protection. Attorneys must also keep reasonable accounts and unnamed transfers from the PWD's account is not the way to do it. Ask yourself if a forensic accountant asked for a full explanation of this spending, could it be supplied? Could it be proved that the money was spent in the PWDs best interests? The Mental Capacity Act 2005 and various directions from the Court of Protection give good advice. There is a checklist to consult when considering purchases. If a complaint is pursued through the Office of the Public Guardian the attorneys have to respond in detail and very quickly. Been there done that.

 

[Duggies-girl]

Before my dad was ill he and I would lunch two or three times a week. He always insisted upon paying but it would only be dad and myself at the garden centre or in Sainsbury's for fish and chips usually. I saw no problem with that as it was for dad's benefit and he liked to pay. I could have done without it to be honest as I really didn't want it and I started to get fat. We don't go now as dad can't eat fish and chips.

I would never have considered taking friends and family and ordering rounds of drinks because that would not have benefitted dad at all.

You need to make it very clear to your brother and sister that they are accountable for any payments that they make to themselves. It is not acceptable behavior from them.

If you have to then go ahead and report them.