Power of Attorney or Deputyship?

[Rich]

I need some advice about my 18 year old son. He goes to school for those with severe learning disabilities, however he is actually on the border of medium/severe. His verbal communication is very good and he can make basic decisions such as what clothes to wear, what food he wants to eat etc but when it comes to financial matters he does lack capacity.

He knows what money is and you need it to buy things but that’s as far as his understanding goes. Now that he is 18 we need to have some say in his financial decisions and help him look after his bank account. We recently took him to the bank to close his children’s ISA account but he didn’t really understand what was happening and was more interested in his surroundings.

I have been reading about LPA and Deputyships but I’m not sure which one to apply for. We have sat down with my son down and tried to explain why it would be in his best interest to allow us to manage his finances and he said yes it would be ok but we don’t think he really understands. Could we still apply for a LPA under these circumstances?

We also feel we should have a say in his health but from what I’ve read I don’t think we would get the deputyship so is applying for LPA easier? He is still with the children services for visiting the dentist and the hospital but when this changes to adult services I think this is when problems will arise. He’s built up confidence to visit the dentist for a checkup but any work that needs doing he needs to be put under. We feel that if any serious health issues happen in the future that he won’t be able to make decisions based on the facts, he’ll just say No, which could be detrimental to his health.

[Lily-Lou]

Rich - I am just going through this with my daughter who has global development delay. I had 30 minutes free advice from a Solicitors and we are going for LPA. I also have the same concerns regarding health, the solicitor explained it is extremely difficult to get LPA for health . Hope that helps. Joanne

[Rich]

Thanks Joanne,

Did you consider becoming a deputy, any reason why you have gone for LPA?

Does your daughter understand the reasons for you wanting to do this?

With the health I thought it was only difficult to become a deputy. With LPA the person is supposed to be giving their consent rather than it being decided for them by the courts.

[Ang1e]

Hi Rich,

There was a discussion started in Dec 2016 called

Court of Protection Deputyship for Health and Welfare - anyone done this?

You should be able to find it in the list of topics in FamilyHub.

You may find something of use if you give it a read as some people made reference to Financial deputyship as well as Health and Welfare.

Our family are presently looking into applying for Health & Welfare deputyship as we have been told we need it, but Office of Public Guardian say we do not.

My father already holds the Financial deputyship for my brother, who has severe learning disabilities and lacks mental capacity. From what I have read I believe he has global development delay (GDD) and although he is 54 he functions at the level of a toddler.

Best wishes,
Ang1e

[Ang1e]

Hi again Rich,

I just posted the following onto the other thread I mentioned in my previous post but thought I’d post it here as it is relevant to your H&W mention:

During our Best Interests meeting with social services last week our family were advised to apply for H&W deputyship.

My dad and sister sat down to fill in the forms yesterday and informed me of the following:

"Dad and I called the Court of Protection to get some advice, interestingly Dad was told that as he is our brothers next of Kin he doesn’t require Health & Welfare Deputyship as he can override any refusal to do tests have treatment etc… if there was a conflict or absolute refusal by staff, GP, Dr, Dad could get the court of protection to override it and grant it within 2 hours of Dads request in an emergency.

As Dad puts it so well “I got the last word and if a decision is disputed, I can get it overruled by the CoP within 2 hours”

Dad spoke about our brother and his vulnerability, lack of capacity and family health issues etc…

He was asked who recommended the Health and Welfare, told them it was Social services! - he was told that social services often make this recommendation and its refused

He felt it would be unlikely to be approved by the judge. It often isn’t."

Our family are trying to move my brother to a residential care home closer to family as we feel his current home are not providing for his needs. He lacks mental capacity, has severe LD’s, autism, and functions at the level of a toddler.

Dad already holds my brothers Financial deputyship. As well as social services telling us we should apply for H&W, the care home we hope to move him to also told us to.

This is real headache stuff!

Hope this helps a little.

Regards,
Ang1e

[Chrispy]

I have deputyship for my son’s financial affairs. For his dentist he still uses the special needs dentist and if he needs any hospital treatment the doctors decide but always discuss everything with us. my son is 24 now and this has worked well so far. he always has someone who knows him well for any appointment as he is not able to talk to professionals. unfortunately we still occasionally have to explain the situation if it is someone who hasn’t met him. good luck, hope this helps

[Mumof3girls]

I applied for Deputyship for my daughter almost 10 years ago. It was really the Health and Welfare deputyship that most concerned me, when an overbearing and self-important social worker was trying to force through a decision that was likely to be seriously injurious to my daughter’s health and would in fact have prevented her accessing the appropriate care and treatment to prevent her becoming permanently blind. When I tried to intervene I was told, “We can’t just have anybody coming in here and telling us what they think about her.” In that social worker’s mind, now that she was an adult I had no more right to advocate for her than a stranger off the street, even though I had cared for her at home for the first 22 years of her life before she moved into residential care. As she has no concept of the value of money it made sense to get a property and affairs deputyship at the same time. I’ve never regretted the decision. It now means I can’t be overruled by non-medical professionals in matters regarding her health and welfare, I have to be fully included in every decision taken by medical professionals, and medical treatment can only happen with my written consent. So I have been able to ensure that her best interests are the primary factor in every health and welfare decision. Once a year I have to submit a sketchy outline of her accounts and a report explaining what health and welfare decisions I have taken on her behalf and whom I have consulted. Once a year a visitor from the Office of the Public Guardian comes to see me and discuss any difficulties I might have encountered and answer any questions. Normally these visits have been very helpful and have helped me to improve the way I manage her affairs. (I say normally because on one occasion they gave me the incorrect advice that I could apply for direct payments to fund some of her needs even though she is in residential care paid for jointly by the local authority and the NHS.) Deputyship has certainly improved my ability to care for her health and welfare and has also meant that when I had to take some big financial decisions following the death of her father, I was able to do so in consultation with other family members and our decisions were happily accepted by the OPG. I am looking at getting my other 2 daughters also added as deputies so that in the event of anything happening to me, they will just be able to carry on seamlessly looking after her best interests. I know there has been some controversy about some actions of the OPG in the case of adults who have been temporarily incapacitated and then recovered. But for a son or daughter with a learning disability I would recommend the process as it really does ensure that the decisions about what is in their interest rests with the people who love them most.