My sister and I have joint and several LPA for my mother, aged 88, who has just been diagnosed with a relatively early stage mix of alzheimer's and vascular dementia. Her mental capacity comes and goes - much better in the afternoons than in the mornings, but it varies day to day. My mother lives with me in my house and in practice, I do all the paperwork and rarely see the need to discuss it with my sister who tends to go along with whatever I suggest anyway. Mum's house is currently on the market and the sale proceeds are going to be tucked away in case she needs to be in a care home in the future. At the moment, she pays half the gas, electricty and water bills for my home; half the petrol on the basis that I hardly use my car for myself and my mileage has significantly increased because of taking her out and about; the additional 25% council tax, although I understand she may not have to pay that because of her condition, ( it's one of the things I need to check); and half the food/cleaning materials bill, plus any clothes or other items that are specifically for her. I certainly don't charge her for any capital expenditure or maintenance on the house or car, other than fuel, and don't think it would be right to do so anyway. I keep a monthly record and go through it with her, making one transfer from her bank account to mine. Although I keep a note of the total for each item, I throw away all those bits of paper receipts once I've done the calculation. When she completely loses capacity to understand, do I need to start keeping receipts to keep the court of Protection happy - has anyone with an LPA been asked to provide accurate and detailed accounts?
Secondly, when she stays with my sister, she gives her a couple of hundred quid for the week or ten days to cover her food and petrol. Mum decided herself that she'd like to do that. Bearing in mind what she pays me is not much more than this sum each month and is accurately calculated, can she continue to do this when she is not able to understand what she is doing? Of should I ask my sister to keep accurate records and reimburse her the precise amount?
Secondly, when she stays with my sister, she gives her a couple of hundred quid for the week or ten days to cover her food and petrol. Mum decided herself that she'd like to do that. Bearing in mind what she pays me is not much more than this sum each month and is accurately calculated, can she continue to do this when she is not able to understand what she is doing? Of should I ask my sister to keep accurate records and reimburse her the precise amount?