PERMITTED ACTIONS FOR ATTORNEY WITH P&F LPA

[JULIEE]

Hello all, I'm wondering if anybody can tell me if I have the authority, as property & finance LPA for my father, to transfer a large chunk of the money in his 'ordinary' current bank account into another type of account where it can be left untouched for five years+ so ANother Attorney can't touch it. The LPA doesn't have any limitations, but includes the option of investing the money, which I plan to do if I'm legally permitted, within the same bank as the current account.

My sibling, who is the other LPA, is giving me reason for concern regarding his spending habits. We are also sadly estranged which makes everything so difficult. I know that our father, who lacks full mental capacity due to a traumatic brain injury, openly tells him to spend what he wants on the LPA debit card, because my brother pleads poverty to him all the time, and is milking him for what he can get. My brother knows full well that I keep an eye on all transactions in our father's account and deal with any admin that needs doing.. I have sent him messages asking him to 'rein in' the spending, but he never responds and is not taking any notice of me. At the rate he is spending our father's money, that money which is in the bank will not last long (even though it is a hefty sum).

He is also filling his van up with fuel using his LPA's debit card, when the only travel he regularly does for our father is driving to the supermarket to get groceries and then delivers it back to my father's house, which in all is about 16 miles, and as diesel is currently at 1.53 per litre, the £60-£70 he is putting in his van is extreme. He might do the odd extra journey, but it never equates to having to have £60-£70 diesel in his van. He leaves all the receipts for me, but I don't think he realises that it is his responsibility to keep records of his driving expenses.

Can anyone give me some advice on how to deal with this please? Obviously I don't want to dob him in to the Office of the Public Guardian, or to the solicitor...Thank you.

[R0b]

Hi,

This is a forum offers assistance with issues in the UK, so you are unlikely to find anyone here that can answer your question. I would suggest you look elsewhere that is more appropriate, though I believe there is a US Legal Advice thread on Reddit that may be more helpful to you.

[JULIEE]

[QUOTE=R0b;n1673639]Hi,
This is a forum offers assistance with issues in the UK, so you are unlikely to find anyone here that can answer your question. I would suggest you look elsewhere that is more appropriate, though I believe there is a US Legal Advice thread on Reddit that may be more helpful to you.[/QUOTE
⁉️ ⁉️


Rob, though I appreciate the fact that somebody has responded, you have got it very wrong. I'm NOT in the USA, I live in Essex, England. Whatever made you think that ?
All I want is to ask somebody for some advice about my situation. Is there anyone out there who can give me some answers please? It would be greatly appreciated because I'm having to deal with it on my own.

[R0b]

Hi,

I honestly do not know why I said what I said in my last post, I could have sworn that the original post referred to US related law but I must have been reading something else.

I have limited knowledge of the process and LPAs but in order to answer your question, it would be helpful if you could clarify whether the LPA states that you and your sibling have to act jointly, jointly and severally, jointly in some matters but jointly and severally in other matters. Typically where there are joint attorneys, it would usually say how they are to act in making decisions, and that will determine what power you and your sibling has in making decisions. If there are no instructions on how both of you are to be making decisions, then it may get complicated as a court may have to determine how you are to act.

As an attorney, the law says that any decision make, you have to act in the best interests of your father. Generally, disagreements between attorneys should be resolved informally but if they cannot be resolved then the step would be to contact the OPG. This is especially the case if you think your brother is acting outside his powers as an attorney because by doing nothing in the knowledge you have reasonable suspicion of him exceeding his powers, you may be in breach of your own duties to act in your father's best interests.

If there are no limitations in the LPA and there is reference to investing the money, then so long as you can evidence you were acting in your father's best interests, I don't think you should have an issue, but if you are unsure then you may want to consult a solicitor to confirm. How much you squirrel away and for long it cannot be accessed will be a factor because if you leave your father without enough money for daily life and other necessities, then you could be in breach of your duties.

One final point, there are also fiduciary duties on attorneys which include a duty not to profit or benefit at your father's expense. If he is filling up fuel whilst only doing irregular trips on your father's behalf, he may be considered to be profiting/benefiting, unless he can prove that the cost of filling up fuel each time was all connected to his duties.

You can report him to the OPG via the link below rather than writing to them.

https://www.gov.uk/report-concern-ab...eputy-guardian