PMB, Re
2014
COURT OF PROTECTION
United Kingdom
CORAM
- SENIOR JUDGE LUSH
Areas of Law
- Family Law
- Health Law
- Probate and Succession
2014
COURT OF PROTECTION
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The case involved a dispute among siblings concerning the appointment of deputies for their mother, PMB, who has Alzheimer's. DG and RS applied to be deputies; JG objected due to past conflicts and concerns over financial mismanagement. The court reviewed submissions, considered legal principles under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and determined it was in PMB's best interests to appoint DG and RS as joint deputies, dismissing JG's objections.
JUDGMENT
Senior Judge Lush:
This is a dispute amongst siblings over the appointment of a deputy to manage their mother’s financial affairs.
The family background
PMB was born in 1927 and lives in Berkshire. She used to be a cleaner for some of the more affluent residents in her village.
She married her first husband in 1947 and divorced him in 1976. He was a farm labourer, who later worked as a lorry driver. She married her second husband, who was a carpenter, in 1984 and he died seventeen months later in 1986.
She has five children from her first marriage, namely:
her elder son, JG, who was born in 1947 and lives in Norfolk;
her eldest daughter, RS, who was born in 1950, is a retired nursing assistant, and lives in Northamptonshire;
her middle daughter, KH, who was born in 1952 and lives in Australia;
her younger son, MG, who was born in 1955 and lives in Devon; and
her youngest daughter, DG, who was born in 1964, is a stock room assistant, and lives near to her mother in Berkshire.
On 24 September 1999 PMB made a homemade will in which she:
appointed her youngest daughter, DG, to be her sole executrix;
made several specific bequests of jewellery and personal chattels to her children and grandchildren; and
left her residuary estate to her five children in equal shares.
PMB has Alzheimer’s type dementia, which was first diagnosed in 2012, and since 24 February 2014 she has resided in a nursing home.
She has savings of approximately £25,000, most of which is held in an account with the Newbury Building Society.
On 18 July 2014 DG and RS applied to be appointed jointly as her deputies for property and affairs. Charles Lucas & Marshall Solicitors, 28 Bartholomew Street, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 5EU acted for them in connection with the application.
The objection
On 5 August 2014 JG completed an acknowledgment of service in which he objected to the application. He said:
“In view of my mother’s current modest financial situation I do not believe the application made by my sisters to be appointed her deputies has been made with respect to her best interests but has been made maliciously and with the intention, based on sibling disagreements, of continuing to exclude me from participation in my mother’s affairs. Requests by myself to be included in matters directly related to my mother have been ignored by both applicants and they continue to refuse to communicate with me. Recently, among other things, they have denied me access to and have un