person with alzheimers recieving an inheritance

aoc29

looking for some legal advice on this subject if anyone can help.

my mother has had alzheimers diesese for past 5 or six years and there is only my dad and myself looking after her, my dad been her main carer as i have a fulltime job. recently her condition has deteroriated big time and she is getting harder and harder to look after, so we are at the stage of deciding weather or not to put her into full time care. this is where in gets tricky. all my dad has is his carers allowance and my mothers disability allowance as they are only in their late fifties, and their house which they still have a mortgage on, no savings. last year a granaunt of my mother died, and she left money to my mother in her will, this hasn't come through yet as the solicitors are still sorting out the will.
the question i'm asking is, if we decide to keep her at home and the cheque arrives in the post can my dad simply lodge it in their joint bank account and use it as he needs it and then put my mother into full time care without any legal concequences. because if she goes into care now he loses his carers allowance, his house benafits package, will have a nursing home bill to pay while trying to survive on the dole.
i have gone to our solicitor on this matter and he is looking into it for us, mainly what i'm looking for is if anyone has been a situation like this.

any help on this would be great, thanks.

PCPhoto

sorry to hear about your parents - best of my knowledge (and thats fairly limited)

As your mother was alive and functioning at the time of the passing of her relative she is entitled to whatever was left to her, so any financial benefits could be lodged in an account in her name (given her current condition) I would believe that her spouse would be able to withdraw from shared account - if any money was lodged there.

I think you also need to contact the bank/solicitor and tell them that her condition has detiorated and she may not be of sound mind (incase some family member asks her to adjust her will - this happens quite a lot - people are greedy and take advantage)

In short
if money was left to her - then it should be left to her estate - meaning that if she is being cared for the money can be used to fund her care - you might need to goto court to withdraw money (if the account is in her name only - but you mentioned dad using joint account)

Ps. My grandmother passed away a few years ago - with Parkinsons and Alzheimers.

Princess Zelda

I know when a relative of mine got alzheimers, for the family to deal with her finances, they got a power of attorney. I'm not too sure if this will help in your case, but might be worth looking into.

Tom Young

OP - You're seeking legal advice here. What you say in relation to contacting your solicitor is precisely what you need to do. No reply between your OP - Original Post, and this is to be taken up as legal advice, as neither are correct.

I will leave this open, but you must respect the forum charter and that goes for the subsequent posters.

The process which is appropriate in the outlined circumstances, bares no resemblance to the general gist of what the subsequent posters have written.

In the circumstances I am sorry for your troubles, but you'd be surprised how money grabbing people and in particular families become when an elderly or infirm person develops a disease of the mind.

Tom

Wantobe

It depends on the amount of money involved.Strictly speaking the administrator of the estate must get a valid receipt for the money and your mother is not capable of giving that receipt. If it is a large amount of money the administrator could insist that your mother be made a ward of court and the money could then be paid to her 'committee' as the committee would be able to execute a valid receipt. Your father could not unless made the committee.

If it is a small amount of money, it might be possible for all of you as your mother's next of kin ( including your father and siblings) to sign an indemnity indemnifying the administrator in the event of a claim. No administrator would be advised to do any such thing, especially where there is any risk of litigation, but sometimes where relations are good, they might take a risk.

Tom Young

Wantobe wrote: »

It depends on the amount of money involved.Strictly speaking the administrator of the estate must get a valid receipt for the money and your mother is not capable of giving that receipt. If it is a large amount of money the administrator could insist that your mother be made a ward of court and the money could then be paid to her 'committee' as the committee would be able to execute a valid receipt. Your father could not unless made the committee.

If it is a small amount of money, it might be possible for all of you as your mother's next of kin ( including your father and siblings) to sign an indemnity indemnifying the administrator in the event of a claim. No administrator would be advised to do any such thing, especially where there is any risk of litigation, but sometimes where relations are good, they might take a risk.

See this is what I didn't want happening.

Thread closed.

OP - Solicitor please.