Court of Protection Allows Gifts Totalling £13 million

The Court of Protection, which deals with cases involving people who lack capacity to make their own decisions, has agreed that a son can gift himself £6 million of his mother’s estate.

His mother is a 72 year old woman who requires full-time care and has dementia. She made a Will in 2011 leaving the majority of her estate to her only surviving son and also appointed him as her sole attorney in 2010 under a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). An LPA is a legal document that lets you appoint one or more people, as attorneys, to help you make decisions or to make decisions on your behalf. You can only make an LPA when you still have capacity.

Using his powers under the LPA, the son asked the Court to allow gifts out of his mother’s £18.6 million estate in order to reduce its inheritance tax liabilities. She was represented by the office of the Official Solicitor who, along with her financial advisers, supported the proposal.

As well as the gift to himself, the Judge gave the son permission to make gifts totalling £7 million to various charities on his mother’s behalf. The Judge supported the son’s proposals, despite being outside the role of an attorney, as she was satisfied that they were not being improperly brought and there had previously been a clear pattern of gifts made to the son, including £500,000 towards a property purchase.

An LPA is a very helpful yet powerful document which makes it much easier to get involved when a family member or friend needs help to manage their affairs. However, this case highlights the need to think very carefully when deciding who to appoint as your attorney. It should be someone who will pay attention to your wishes and act in your best interests as their powers can be far-reaching.