Deputyship

[Newbie4]

Morning all

Posted on various other threads - mum is currently in intermediate care after an operation (hip following a fall). Moved to a community hospital a week ago ahead of a decision on whether she will return home, or move into a care home (early signs pointing to the latter). We have an assessment at dad's home on Friday to look at the house etc.

Long story short - we didn't set up Power of Attorney while mum was still aware enough of things, she's long past that stage now. I wrongfully (and naively) assumed that dad as her husband would be able to continue dealing with their finances as he has been for years. They have a joint current account, a joint savings account and dad has his own personal savings account).

So we're now looking into applying for Deputyship asap. I'm worried the bank will freeze the joint accounts if they find out about mum's Alzheimer's.

What I'd like to know is whether or not it's realistic to apply for it ourselves, or if we will need to appoint a solicitor to sort. Naturally keen to avoid dad forking out money if he doesn't have to - and I've seen some staggering sums for Solicitors to do it. From what I can see - if we do it ourselves the initial application will be £371, then a yearly fee of either £320 for general supervision, or £35 for minimal supervision. Finally, I see there will also be a security bond which will be assessed - this part worries me as I assume this could be where cost wrack up?

If anyone has any experience of applying, either themselves or through a solicitor I would really appreciate it.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

 

[MartinWL]

It is realistic to do this without a solicitor, many people do. The banks won't freeze the joint accounts. It may well be wise to split their finances after Deputyship has been granted, so that the funds of your dad are not used for her care.

 

[thistlejak]

I did Deputyship applications for both MIL and FIL at the same time without a solicitor as, looking at the forms, we would have had to tell them all the information for them to charge us to fill in a form.
It is Good that you know where all the money is and how any property is owned.
Just do each form in turn giving all the information that you can, if you need any help you can email the Court and they will get back to you.
The form that causes the most issues is the one certifying lack of capacity - we had to get an independent social worker to do it as no one else would. We found one fairly local on the internet. We paid the fee and then got it back afterwards.
With regards to the fees, you claim them back from your Mum's money when you get Deputyship. Your Dad does not have to fund anything.
The security bond is also paid from your Mum's money - we paid about £100 per year for it, it depends on the value of assets .
@MartinWL says once you get it split up their money. I made a note of the balance of any joint accounts on the day it was confirmed FIL was staying in a care home, Once we got Deputyship I transferred that amount into his new account.
It does take a while for the Order to come through but in the mean time you can apply for Appointeeship - this gives you control over your Mum's pension and any other DWP benefits. If your Mum is self funding she will still get attendance allowance paid to her towards fees.
One thing to note is that your Dad gets to keep his married man's pension, if he gets it, and your Mum's pension goes to her. If she had a private pension she can 'gift' half of it to your Dad.
Someone will have to apply and if you don't then social services will and that might cause you problems as you then get no say about anything to do with her finances.
Hope this helps.

 

[nitram]

The banks won't freeze the joint accounts.

BSA guidance dated 2010 indicates that in England banks may do a partial freeze.

What happens if the other joint account holder becomes mentally incapable?

In England and Wales, if one party to the joint account loses capacity to operate their account, banks and building societies will use their discretion to determine whether or not to temporarily restrict the operation of the account to essential transactions only (for example, living expenses and medical/residential care bills for both parties) until a deputy has been appointed or a power of attorney registered.

In Scotland, you can continue to run the account as long as the original account mandate was either-to-sign and there is not a court order preventing the account from being used.

In Northern Ireland, practices vary between banks so you should speak to your bank, which will be able to tell you what its practices are.

https://www.bsa.org.uk/BSA/files/34/3422634e-24a4-412b-ac41-183701e6c248.pdf

 

[canary]

I did deputyship myself too. Its a bit of a faff and theres a fair bit of paper shuffling, but I found it doable. The eye watering amounts that solicitors charge for filling in the forms doesnt include supervision fees, or the price of the security bond.
If you get into difficulties you can either contact the Office of Public Guardians, or I believe that AgeUK and Citizens Advice will help with the form filling (or you could ask on here what people have done).

 

[Newbie4]

Thanks for your replies, I really appreciate them.

I've started filling in the forms, just the general info at the moment. Hopefully I'm doing them right! Obviously all the financial info etc I will get from dad.

Wish us luck!

 

[Newbie4]

@canary I hope you don't mind me picking your brains... Slowly making my way through the forms - just a quick question on COP4 section 3:

3.1 Do you have a personal bank or building society current/deposit account?

So, dad and mum have joint current and savings accounts. Dad also has an ISA in his name only. I think it's a 'Yes' - but I'm not 100% sure.

Apart from that it all seems to be going ok. Waiting to find out if mum will be coming home or into a care home before I fill her address details in, but hopefully we should find that out within the next week or so.

And then it's just getting in touch with a practitioner to fill in COP3 - I'm going to approach the chap who deals with mum's medication assessments for that I think.

 

[thistlejak]

Hi Newbie4 - COP4 section 3 is about you not the person you are applying for. It is to ensure that you are 'a fit and proper person' ( their definition not mine) to administer someone else's money.
Hope this helps.

 

[Newbie4]

Hi @thistlejak thanks for the reply. Yeah, I'm helping my dad fill it out (he's applying to by deputy for mum). I just want to make sure we're not making a daft mistake by ticking the wrong box.