Head, Meet Brick Wall???

Q: Among my many talents I am my wife's carer. She has Systemic Lupus with severe cardiac and renal involvement. Currently in hospital due to acute renal failure with toxins in her blood so high that for the first 10 days it was touch and go if she would actually come out again. We are an old fashioned couple (but not old) we don't have secrets or separate bank accounts etc. Just lately though, the hospital appears determined to make my involvement as difficult as possible. Just before the weekend I got a call from our local social services who wanted to discuss my wife's future care should she return home. They had apparently had a referral from the ward she is on. We do not want or need SS involvement and have made that clear to them. On contacting the hospital about their interference they claimed they had discussed it with the patient and her family (that would be me then) before making the referral. At the time they claim to have discussed it with my wife she would not have been capable of understanding what they were saying or even participating in a normal conversation. On Thursday of last week (after this apparent discussion) the toxins in her blood were running at sufficiently high levels that she looked at me and asked "where's Joe" (that would be me). As I once again want / need to make a formal complaint about these jokers I find they have yet again reverted to their hiding policy and won't discuss anything with me without written authorisation from my wife (funny they didn't need a letter from her for the SS). Anyway, we are both sick and tired of them pulling this stunt and now want to put something in place that will formally allow me to run her affairs when she is incapacitated. What is it, how quickly and easily can we do it and is it cheap. Thanks for reading and for any constructive suggestions.

A: -An enduring Power of Attorney may be the answer. Please be aware though, that in my recent experience (after having to take over the affairs of my now deceased father with his permission and signature) that some government departments and institutions refused to recognise this until it was ratified by the Court of Protection when there is a case of mental impairment - some of these departments had me jumping through hoops until it was ratified. As to the time period and cost - the initial Power of Attorney when dad had all is faculties, was around two hundred pounds and done within a week. When the courts became involved (which included a family dispute and a second application having to be made) the costs leapt up to around 400 pounds and took about a month to obtain - this included an emergency interim court order when severe problems arose and my father's bank account was frozen as a result of the aformentioned dispute. As a result of my own experience, if you are already having problems and the social services are involved, I would advise seeing a specialist solicitor ASAP for advice - it certainly worked in my case. -Initial Power of Attorney - as my father was disabled and my sister wanted to 'be in on the process as joint trustee', I got the family brief to see dad at home where he explained the full procedures and 'get out' clauses to us - so payment was for travelling, home visit and the length of time he was there (as it turned out, it was money well spent). Ratification by the courts - when dad's illness worsened and other government departments became involved, they refused to accept the Power of Attorney to allow us to continue dealing with dad's affairs and we had to apply to the courts for ratification. It was during this period that a serious family dispute arose where my father's bank account was frozen and the courts refused to allow my sister to be a joint applicant on the Power of Attorney as a result. Because of this, things got rather messy and a second application had to be made - along with the request for a temporary order from the courts to allow me access to the bank accounts so that both living and carers. costs could be paid. To be honest, yes things could have been cheaper, but the 'aggravation factor' could have been far worse for me with my very limited knowledge of this type of law (actually no knowledge at all).

Discuss It!

Most Popular Articles

More