Selling home to pay for care fees

[Leeanne]

My elderly aunt is going into a care home permanently and her house will need to be sold. My brother and myself are her only living relatives and we are executors of her will. As will live a couple of hundred miles away from her she has a lasting Power of Attorney with her best friends that look after her finances as she is well over 90. They have told me that as we are next of kin then we are responsible for selling her house etc. I would have thought that they were responsible with the Power of Attorney as she hasnt passed away. I am not trying to get out of this - I have said that we will go up there and sort out all of her things etc. but as regards selling the house it is just that I think they have got it wrong. Does anyone know.

Thanks

Leeanne

[Kati]

Re: Selling home to pay for care fees

[MENTION=39710]des8[/MENTION] might know (I've tagged him) xx

[des8]

Re: Selling home to pay for care fees

Hi and welcome.
It depends on whether or not the LPA is for Finance and Property &/or Health and Welfare and what terms the LPA might also contain.
Presumably the LPA has been registered
If your aunt still has mental capacity the LPA may not yet be effective
The LPA might include all sorts of restrictions regarding eg making gifts, selling property etc etc

Being next of kin doesn't bestow authority on you to sell her property.
As executors of her will, that has no effect until after she has passed away and you have obtained probate.

You're lucky your aunt has good friends who aren't obviously out for what they can gain, and want to involve her family in their decisions.
At this stage I would discuss the matter with them, and consider whether or not it is necessary to sell the property immediately.
Depending on the state of her health, it might be worth delaying the sale until after her passing.
That decision will depend of course on the need to finance her care.

I wish you well, and a good New Year