Personal Solicitors Ipswich – Can your family handle your affairs in the best way possible?

‘Many elderly people appoint their children or other relatives or trusted friends as attorney to manage their money for them.  What happens when it goes wrong, and the trusted attorney turns out to be not so trustworthy?

The case of Harcourt (2012) WTLR 1781 shows that the Court of Protection can cancel a Lasting Power of Attorney when an Attorney mismanages a Donor’s personal affairs.  The matter came to the Office of Public Guardian’s attention when the manager of a residential home complained to the vulnerable adult team of the county council, that Mrs Harcourt’s care home fees were in arrears.  The manager also expressed concern about correspondence from loan and credit card companies confirming loans and credit cards to Mrs Harcourt. Mrs Harcourt had appointed her daughter to be her sole Attorney. The county council contacted the Office of the Public Guardian who began to investigate the Attorney’s management of Mrs Harcourt’s personal affairs. The Attorney impeded the OPG’s investigation and the Office of the Public Guardian applied to the Court of Protection to have the LPA revoked. As Mrs Harcourt now lacked capacity she herself could not make appropriate requisitions to her Attorney about her finances or revoke her LPA. However, the Court of Protection has discretion to intervene on behalf of an incapable person and can revoke an LPA provided it is in that person’s ‘best interests’. The Court found that the Attorney had mismanaged the Donor’s affairs and determined that the LPA should be revoked and a Deputy appointed. Attorneys should be aware of their fiduciary duties to Donors and that if they breach those duties the Court has discretion to intervene to protect the Donor.’

James Skellorn is a personal solicitor at Barker Gotelee, solicitors in Suffolk

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