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Hi,
I am just looking for a little bit of advice for my step dad with a situation he is currently in right now.
So basically my dads father was diagnosed with dementia around 2013 and he went into a care home. His partner, who he isn't married to was selected as an appointee when it came to his pension etc but has never been appointed deputyship/power of attorney.
Over the past 30 years or so, his dads partner hasn't been the nicest person and when she first moved in with his dad she made him and his brother move out, didn't give them anytime to find a place, so they had to live in a hostel. That is just one of many issues she has caused.
Fast forward to earlier this year and my dads brother died of cancer and his children didn't have much in terms of money to give him a decent send off so my dad asked for some money from his dads partner as he knew his dad should realistically have around £40-£50k in his bank from his pensions. She basically refused, said it wasn't her problem and hung up the phone.
That was the tipping point for my dad who moved forward with the COP forms to gain deputyship of his dads affairs. Once the forms when in he got a letter of authority which allowed him to access his dads bank accounts to find his dad only had 25k sitting in the bank. So my dad got 7 years worth of bank statements, to which i went over thoroughly to find that his dads partner over the 6 years he'd been in a home that there had been £34000 in cash withdrawals alone, some weeks £1200 was getting withdrawn over the space of 4 days. Bearing in mind his dad was paying for his own care from his own pension which was coming out as a direct debit. for nearly the past 2 years he has been fully funded by the local council for his care but cash withdrawals average around £400-£600 had been happening up until august of this year when the bank put a freeze on the card. At one point, £5000 left the account and was returned into the account 6 months later. Also the care home told her that my step dad was going for deputyship(which I feel broke confidentiality) and the care home have been hostile to him ever since. She visits his dad once a week, my step dad works 6 days a week most weeks, from 6am until 21.30pm he is out of the house, he visits on a sunday if he can, and rings 2/3 times a week to see if his dad needs anything, but all he is meet with his hostility from the care home staff.
The priority for my dad is to be in charge of his dads affairs so that he gets information on how his dad is doing daily without being met with hostility or that they don't want to tell him. My dad is the only blood relative left that his dad has now.
This week she contested the deputyship that my dad put it for his dads affairs and it now has to go to a court hearing. In the COP forms my step dad has highlighted all of these withdrawals as part of the evidence why he doesn't think she is suitable and i put it clearly on a spreadsheet as well.
My dad asked the police for advice who said it isn't a police matter and that it is a civil matter, which is ridiculous if you ask me.
What i am wondering is, will the judge look at that 34k in withdrawals and want an explanation from her? Will the the judge possibly look at it as she isn't handling the dads affairs correctly and is basically abusing his money? She herself isn't in the best of health either after having a triple heart bypass & my step dad needs to know that his dad will be looked after and that when he passes he will be given the send off he deserves.
