Hi
For three years from Jan 2017 I regularly reported my brother’s financial abuse to the OPG and they did nothing. They only made a move when I reported a large scar on my mum’s leg in 2019 to the police and got a crime reference number. Sadly in 2020 mum got Covid and passed away so the OPG got of scot free.
Anyway I obtained a copy of my mum’s death certificate and then went to her bank and got hold of all the bank statements and copies of cheques. I then put these into a spreadsheet and confirmed that over 3 years my brother misappropriated ( I would prefer to say stole) iro £70,000. The police have confirmed that this is a crime and I now have another reference number.
I have also commenced Civil legal proceedings but obviously this may take some time.
Does anyone have similar experiences and also can anyone confirm how long my brother is legally obliged to keep accountancy records for after the Donor’s death.
Any help will be gratefully received and much appreciated.
Who had Power of Attorney?
My brother and I had joint and several POA. I live 300 miles away from him and mum. Not being able to stop him was very stressful and affected my health and my family so I removed myself as POA. This left my brother with total control but at least the authorities couldn’t come to me to repay mum’s estate to cover care costs.
I cannot understand why the OPG was so slow to act.
They have a duty of care, and have breached that duty, and there has been resultant damage.
Those are the three requirements that amount to negligence, so both your brother AND the OPG appear guilty of negligence!!
A lot of the OPG time is taken up by malicious, lying relatives. My brother reported me to them when I had done absolutely nothing wrong. It was pure spite and jealousy. Every single penny of my Mum’s money could be accounted for and the only money going out was for her care home fees and only money coming in was her pension. Following investigations they said there was no evidence of any wrong doing and they apologised to me. I imagine there are plenty of cases like mine but they still have to investigate.
If you weren’t LPA how were you able to get bank details, copies of cheques etc.?
Regarding the accounts I believe it might be 7 years but check up on that.
Hi Penny
I got bank statements when I got a copy of the death certificate. I was also POA until stress caused by my brother forced me to resign.
My brother allegedly spent £36K fixing up my mum’s house but the investigating police officer who had just done similar to his own confirmed that he would struggle to pay less than half of that. The reason was to rent out mum’s house.
Mum’s house was placed into Trust with my brother and I as Trustees and I informed my brother that the cost of fixing the house up would outweigh the benefits but he did this anyway. I also informed him that we could not rent because of structural damage…that still exists.
My civil claim solicitor has confirmed that my brother should have obtained permission from the OPG for such expenditure and also that he should have obtained my permission so on this basis he will need to repay £36K.
Whilst you can claim reasonable travelling expenses I hardly think £65 per fortnight on fuel is reasonable when the nursing home and shops are only 5 miles from where he lives and during the latter months it would appear that his girlfiend also filled her car up.
All in all to date we have established that iro £70K has been spent on non essential items that had nothing to do with my mum’s health or welfare.
What is going to happen to the house now?
Who are the executors of the will?
If there are just the two of you, and it’s left equally to you, either the house is sold and your brother doesn’t get an equal share, or you buy the house from the estate, and he gets less than his share.
Don’t forget the interest the money would have accrued.
My elder brother borrowed some money off mum and dad. They remortgaged their house to do this, on the understanding that he would pay her back when an insurance policy matured. He spent the money instead! When mum’s solicitor heard this, mum rewrote the will, saying that the amount he owed must be deducted from his share of the property. As they had remortgaged, I knew to the nearest penny how much they had given him, how much interest they had paid, and how much was still outstanding. His share was completely written off by this. He died before mum, I was the executor, his children were clearly counting on a lump sum. They haven’t spoken to me since they discovered they would get nothing. One lives two miles away, one six miles away.
Hello Ray
We were sorry to read that your mum passed away last year and that you are concerned that funds from her bank account were misappropriated by your brother.
You may find it useful to seek some specialist advice from an organisation called Hourglass (formerly Action on Elder Abuse) - https://www.wearehourglass.org/ . They have a helpline service where you can speak with trained staff and volunteers, and they may be able to give more guidance. They can be telephoned on 0808 808 8141 (Monday – Friday, 9am-5pm) or emailed on helpline@wearehourglass.org They also have an online chat function on their website.
With good wishes
Michael