NSW Help with Elderly mother

[Robyn Lambert]

My question is regarding my mother who is 84 years old, has help in the home currently but her alzheimers is progressively getting worse very quickly. I have two brothers and myself, about 2 years ago I found out by chance that my middle brother had acquired power of attorney over my mother, he still does not know that my brother and I know this. He takes care of my mother's bills currently.

My question is what help can my other brother and I get if we need to fight anything and where do we stand if my brother with the power of attorney does anything that we feel is not right for our mother? For example she owns her own villa and lives on her own but if she needs to go to a nursing home but for financial reasons or just not caring reasons he refuses to do this for her?

She does have aged care in the home currently so I guess I could always go further with that government agency. Any help would be greatly appreciated as also this brother with power of attorney refuses to speak to myself and my brother with issues to do with my mother.

 

[John R]

Hi Robyn,

1. Does your mother still have "capacity" to understand the EPOA that she signed? I only ask because the diagnosis of dementia/alzheimer's does not automatically render someone to have lost capacity and if she still has capacity, she could revoke the current EPOA and sign a new one that appoints more than one attorney (to keep checks on each other, act when the other is unavailable, etc.)
2. If your mother does not have capacity, you may consider taking your concerns to the NSW Guardianship Tribunal (part of NCAT, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal). It is important that you collect any evidence you can to support concerns, e.g. evidence of unpaid bills, unsatisfactory levels of care, etc.

Hope this helps. Please keep us updated with your progress.