AB (Revocation of Enduring Power of Attorney)
2014
COURT OF PROTECTION
United Kingdom
CORAM
- Senior Judge Lush
- Re AB (Revocation of Enduring Power of Attorney)
Areas of Law
- Equity and Trusts
- Mental Capacity Law
2014
COURT OF PROTECTION
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
AB's Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) was revoked after her attorneys, MD and WD, misused her funds, made unauthorized loans and gifts, and failed to pay her care home fees. Brent Council raised concerns that led to an investigation by the Public Guardian. The court ruled that the attorneys were unsuitable and appointed Brent Council as deputy to manage AB's property and affairs.
JUDGMENT
Senior Judge Lush:
This is an application for the court to revoke an Enduring Power of Attorney (‘EPA’) on the ground that, having regard to all the circumstances, the attorneys are unsuitable to be the donor’s attorneys.
In accordance with the President’s guidance on the publication of judgments [2014] COPLR 78, unless there are compelling reasons why the judgment should not be published (which there are not in this case), I am required to publish a judgment arising from “any case where the issues include whether a person should be restrained from acting as an attorney or a deputy or that an appointment should be revoked or his or her powers reduced.”
The attorneys are AB’s nephews and I have anonymised this judgment in accordance with paragraph 20(iii) of the guidance, which says that, “anonymity in the judgment should not normally extend beyond the privacy of the adults who are the subject of the proceedings and other members of their families, unless there are compelling reasons to do so.”
The family background
AB was born in County Cavan, Ireland, on 24 April 1928 and came to England when she was in her early thirties.
She was married briefly, but had no children.
She lives in a residential care home in Kingsbury, London NW9.
AB’s sister-in-law, Maureen, is the widow of her brother, James. Maureen also lives in Kingsbury and has four sons (JD, MD, SD and WD) and one daughter (CL).
On 11 June 2007 AB signed an EPA, in which she appointed her nephews MD and WD jointly and severally to be her attorneys with general authority to act on her behalf in relation to all her property and affairs.
MD was born in 1962, is a plasterer, and lives in Kingsbury.
WD was born in 1964, is a quantity surveyor, and lives in West Yorkshire.
The EPA was drawn up by Hamilton Downing Quinn, Solicitors, Museum Street, London WC1.
AB has dementia.
Attorneys acting under an EPA have a duty to apply for the registration of the instrument if they have reason to believe that the donor is, or is becoming, mentally incapable of managing and administering their property and affairs. In August 2007 MD and WD applied to the Court of Protection (which was then the registration authority for powers of attorney) to register the EPA, and registration took place on 26 September 2007.
Property transactions
Until July 2006 AB lived in her own flat in Cricklewood, London NW2. Her family were concerned that she was becoming frail and forgetful, and decided that she sh