Good Afternoon
I am taking the opportunity to raise awareness to all that will listen about our experience.
We have, unfortunately, been in the position of having to apply for Deputyship of our dear Mother/Mother-in-Law way back in 2010, when Mum sadly became incapacitated with Dementia. Cutting a very, very long story short, Mum didn’t believe in Power of Attorney but in her circumstances no matter what we did to ensure her safety, protection and everything that went with it, we never succeeded in convincing her of the importance to have these things in place. As such, her children were then forced into requesting for Deputyship for her affairs after she had become incapacitated to protect her from a third party friend. It was a very lengthy, expensive and depressing process.
Once in place however, the arduos work was never ending in relation to reporting to the OPG annually, dealing with care matters etc etc.
My point of my comments, is to warn as many families as I can, that the OPG and Deputyship is not something I would ever recommend to any family members, carers or anyone who has the misfortune of being in any postion such as this. Always, always do your best to encourage family members to put Power of Attorney in place rather than Deputyship. Husbands/wives/partners/children/carers - please please take my advice seriously and ensure these things are in place!
The OPG are an administration nightmare. We are in a stage 2 complaint with them now that Mum has passed away, after 9 years of absolute hell! They are a money making machine and in no way care or have the Client in their interest. As long as they have your annual fee they don’t care! Their administrsation is absolutely shocking … markers on the account from 5 years ago to prevent any correspondence being sent and no matter what we did to chase them, we never received a thing! Notification of changes of address NEVER administered, documents sent to the wrong addresses, care home details for the Client not updated, and then they have the audacity to try and take us to Court because of their futile inadequecy of blaming us the Deputies instead of looking at themselves even when it was pointed out LEGALLY, they refused to accept it until a Judge became involved and that they were unable to read their own records correctly!
The stress of the OPG process is antiquated, unnecessary and a money making system for no reason at all under the guise of protecting the Client.
Please, if nothing else can be learnt from out situation, is the importance of Power of Attorney and having these discussions early in life rather than when it’s too late.
We learnt the hardest way possible and are so glad we no longer have to deal with these imbiciles! Sadly it had to be in the event of Mum’s death.
If you wish for any advice or information or just wish to share your experiences, please feel free to comment!