Hi there,
I am both my parent's Power of Attorney. My mum is my dad's primary carer (and is also his PoA) as he has mixed dementia. My mum also has cancer (mum's diagnosis might not be relevant to my query but thought I'd mention it just in case).
I have taken on most of the responsibility of looking after my parent's finances, as my dad was the main breadwinner, paid all the bills and as a result mum struggles with managing household bills and finances.
My dad's person bank account was essentially lying dormant for a few years- he had all the household direct debit bills for council tax, energy etc coming out of there. After a bit of a struggle, I finally managed to get his bank to acknowledge me as Power of Attorney and I had access to online banking where I was able to manage his finances. To keep things simple, I started transferring all of the direct debits to mum and dads joint bank account. This also includes his at-home care package (shower woman every week day, day- care 3 days a week and buses). This adds up to about £450 per month. We also transferred his private pension into their joint account.
I transferred a lot of Dad's money to pay for all of this stuff to their joint bank account (with another bank) and this has added up to a lot over the year.
My sister bought a house so my mum wanted to gift her £5000 for a deposit, which we did by transferring it out of Dad's account to the joint. Other big expenses have included £4000 for a new boiler and £1800 to pay towards my wedding. I have referenced all of these transactions in dads account as descriptions of what they are or 'to joint bank account.'
I am now really concerned on reading information about deliberate deprivation of assets. My mum is finding it harder and harder to cope with dad's needs (being ill herself) and it is getting to the point now where we need to start thinking about nursing homes. I am really worried that I have done the wrong thing by transferring a lot of his money to their joint account, despite it being used for them just living their lives. Having read some similar posts on other forums, it sounds like I should have kept his assets separate. I believe his total assets may now just be on or a bit below the threshold for being deemed able to pay for his own care.
I think I can explain most it away when the council do their means testing, do you think that this makes it ok?
Sorry that this is long and rambling, but I am just a bit freaked out after reading some of these posts.
Thank you
I am both my parent's Power of Attorney. My mum is my dad's primary carer (and is also his PoA) as he has mixed dementia. My mum also has cancer (mum's diagnosis might not be relevant to my query but thought I'd mention it just in case).
I have taken on most of the responsibility of looking after my parent's finances, as my dad was the main breadwinner, paid all the bills and as a result mum struggles with managing household bills and finances.
My dad's person bank account was essentially lying dormant for a few years- he had all the household direct debit bills for council tax, energy etc coming out of there. After a bit of a struggle, I finally managed to get his bank to acknowledge me as Power of Attorney and I had access to online banking where I was able to manage his finances. To keep things simple, I started transferring all of the direct debits to mum and dads joint bank account. This also includes his at-home care package (shower woman every week day, day- care 3 days a week and buses). This adds up to about £450 per month. We also transferred his private pension into their joint account.
I transferred a lot of Dad's money to pay for all of this stuff to their joint bank account (with another bank) and this has added up to a lot over the year.
My sister bought a house so my mum wanted to gift her £5000 for a deposit, which we did by transferring it out of Dad's account to the joint. Other big expenses have included £4000 for a new boiler and £1800 to pay towards my wedding. I have referenced all of these transactions in dads account as descriptions of what they are or 'to joint bank account.'
I am now really concerned on reading information about deliberate deprivation of assets. My mum is finding it harder and harder to cope with dad's needs (being ill herself) and it is getting to the point now where we need to start thinking about nursing homes. I am really worried that I have done the wrong thing by transferring a lot of his money to their joint account, despite it being used for them just living their lives. Having read some similar posts on other forums, it sounds like I should have kept his assets separate. I believe his total assets may now just be on or a bit below the threshold for being deemed able to pay for his own care.
I think I can explain most it away when the council do their means testing, do you think that this makes it ok?
Sorry that this is long and rambling, but I am just a bit freaked out after reading some of these posts.
Thank you
