Court of Protection

[RedBern]

Hi guys,

 

general query to begin with - how rigorous are the CofP in checking accounts for cases they are involved with?

 

A friend's is Executor of an estate. The deceased was under the C of P for a couple of years before her death. She's had papers through from the court, not full bank statements showing all transactions but summaries, and handwritten 'invoices' for 'care costs' amounting to over £30k.

 

The Executor was not responsible for finances in the three years prior to the death - these were handled by someone else.

 

However, she feels the costs are excessive - and would like a breakdown which to date she is unable to get. Do the Court of Protection not carry out proper checks on what is going in and out of accounts in their care?

[buzby]

If you mean to they police the charges and object if they're 'excessive' the answer is no. After death their involvement is minimal, and I have never heard of them raising concerns in this way, unless fraud is involved. It's well known that Banks and Solicitors charge dearly for their services and unless the subject had agreed a set scale of charges in advance, then it would be up to the Executor to seek the justification and whatever remedy required to settle the matter.

[RedBern]

thanks for this - I was thinking of the time before the death when - theoretically - the person is under the "protection" of the Court of Protection as they are obviously vulnerable. If a person was in this situation for, for instance, 5 years, would any monitoring be done to 'protect' the finances? (or am I totally misunderstanding the rule of 'protection')