Question via email:
"I have a question which has been difficult to get a proper answer. I am my mother's LPA, sadly she has Alzheimer's, which killed our dad 2 years ago. She is Finnish, but has lived in England for over 60 years now. For 29 years, she had a studio flat, which she eventually rented out to students for 9 months per year and her and my dad stayed there most July's. None of us in England can understand Finnish, but most of our relations live in Finland. Therefore my question is:
Can I get my most trusted Finnish relation to sort out tax , bank and pension problems in her home town in Finland in our behalf and what measures do I need to put in place?
It is my mother's niece. We all trust her implicitly. The Finns get taxed a lot, but we think mum is actually due a small rebate. Basically, there were quarterly taxes on the flat, which mum had inadvertently thought she had paid but never did. Finally, with mum, I managed to speak over the phone (I took her name when she gave me the relevant Iban numbers) to their tax office and settled both payments, one in each of my parent's names. But I never received any acknowledgement/receipt and we still received letters . They then decided to stop mum's small state pension to cover any owed taxes, even though we had told them that the flat was sold in 2016 and she had no income from Finland.
I went there in 2016, on holiday and ended up visiting her bank, pension and tax offices after we had put the property for sale. Mum had also kept the deeds in a safety deposit box in her bank .I cannot afford to go to Finland especially if they do not have it sorted and tell me to return another time. Plus the implications of my mother getting involved will bring up the difficulty and stress we all endured, where she believed she'd lost her independence and right to visit Finland again because she only remembers little things due to her illness.
Any help would be appreciated.
Meanwhile, I have just emailed all the most relevant documents thst I have on file (including a copy of the LPA from the office of the public guardian), to our cousin there and she will see what she can do to put this all to bed. It's hard enough sorting out welfare and financial matters in English, let alone a complex foreign language I can tell you!"
"I have a question which has been difficult to get a proper answer. I am my mother's LPA, sadly she has Alzheimer's, which killed our dad 2 years ago. She is Finnish, but has lived in England for over 60 years now. For 29 years, she had a studio flat, which she eventually rented out to students for 9 months per year and her and my dad stayed there most July's. None of us in England can understand Finnish, but most of our relations live in Finland. Therefore my question is:
Can I get my most trusted Finnish relation to sort out tax , bank and pension problems in her home town in Finland in our behalf and what measures do I need to put in place?
It is my mother's niece. We all trust her implicitly. The Finns get taxed a lot, but we think mum is actually due a small rebate. Basically, there were quarterly taxes on the flat, which mum had inadvertently thought she had paid but never did. Finally, with mum, I managed to speak over the phone (I took her name when she gave me the relevant Iban numbers) to their tax office and settled both payments, one in each of my parent's names. But I never received any acknowledgement/receipt and we still received letters . They then decided to stop mum's small state pension to cover any owed taxes, even though we had told them that the flat was sold in 2016 and she had no income from Finland.
I went there in 2016, on holiday and ended up visiting her bank, pension and tax offices after we had put the property for sale. Mum had also kept the deeds in a safety deposit box in her bank .I cannot afford to go to Finland especially if they do not have it sorted and tell me to return another time. Plus the implications of my mother getting involved will bring up the difficulty and stress we all endured, where she believed she'd lost her independence and right to visit Finland again because she only remembers little things due to her illness.
Any help would be appreciated.
Meanwhile, I have just emailed all the most relevant documents thst I have on file (including a copy of the LPA from the office of the public guardian), to our cousin there and she will see what she can do to put this all to bed. It's hard enough sorting out welfare and financial matters in English, let alone a complex foreign language I can tell you!"