A parent is getting on and you live 100 miles away. But he is getting care from council employees so you can sleep peacefully. On a visit, Dad shows you his will where he has appointed a carer as his executor? This is the bones of an item picked up on the new MacMillan Care website  http://community.macmillan.org.uk/whatsnew/default.aspx where people put their cancer/care issues out in various forums. Some of them make uncomfortable reading and if you wish to join in any threads, you will need to register. The headline asked: Can a carer be an Executor of their charge? which set alarm bells ringing.

As long as we are compos mentis, we can appoint whoever we like to deal with our estate when we have passed on. But where you have a surviving child who cares about you and visits, why not involve them in this? Why appoint a carer that borrows £1,500 from you and is not doing a great job? Care agency staff for example, are not allowed to be an executor or be a beneficiary of their charges. The Criminal Records Bureau  http://www.brookson.co.uk/news-and-press/139/8/changes-to-criminal-record-bureau-crb-checks.aspx includes a separate Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) register but occasionally checks are not done by employers. The two employees concerned have apparently been dismissed, but their appearance on the POVA register will depend on whether or not they get a criminal conviction.

There is nothing to stop anyone taking someone off the street and employing them directly. No checks have to be done and where people do this to try and save money perhaps, they tend to be blissfully unaware of the risks they run as an employer. Supposing the carer has an accident, for example? Fortunately, new rules coming in 2010 put the onus on the employee to ensure that a carer’s own records are up to date.

Families who feel that their parent has been exploited can always go to court but proving this can be difficult where payments are made directly. Much better at the outset to establish a contract with carers setting out the restrictions on accepting gifts, signing legal documents or being included as beneficiaries in the care recipient’s (service user’s) will or acting as their trustee.

Alternative might be a nursing home but let’s face it, no one ever really wants to move into a home not to mention the risk of MRSA for example, which may be higher than staying in their own home.

In the above case, moving Dad to the same town largely solved the issue, so he could be seen more often. But care in your own home is an often overlooked alternative and a niche of http://www.caringandsharing.info/ The cost can be less than that of a nursing home, not to mention avoiding the trauma of selling up and moving. Much of their work is with dementia patients. Where a person has a physical illness for example, their life expectancy will often be shorter but for mental illnesses life expectancy can be normal so will need caring for longer. Equity Release can be one way of funding this as properties may need to be adapted to provide in-house accommodation for the carer or allow for the installation of specialist equipment.

From an adviser’s point of view, one has to be absolutely clear who is the client? If the parent is compos mentis, then they are usually the client and all discussions are with them. If not, then a Lasting Power of Attorney is needed and dealings will be with the Attorney rather than the person receiving care. While parents will usually discuss this with their offspring, the advice is for what benefits the parent. All meaning of course, that the children could end up inheriting nothing apart maybe from a few personal effects.

Other research around cancer websites reveals an huge database on different types of cancer at http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/ some imaginative fund raising at the Marie Curie Cancer charity http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/supportus/fundraising/chance-to-dance/chance-to-dance.htm What is most surprising here is that it is a Marie Curie project. Whereas Cancer Research UK and MacMillan are for helping people with years perhaps to live or maybe normal life expectancy – mid life if you like, Marie Curie only deals with end life patients, 5 months to live or less – as their website says, we don’t do research…

Another nightmare unfolds in a younger generation in the unregulated sale & leaseback sector. Families that cannot keep up their debt or mortgage payments have been tempted into sale & leaseback deals with many home owners not bothering to read the small print. What can happen is that the home is sold for well under the market value, credit card and other debt is rolled in as well so families think they have a clean sheet. But they may only have limited rights to stay and can find themselves out on the street when the new landlord gives them notice. Nastiest of all, this situation is only likely to occur where there is reasonable equity in the property. If debts are equal to the property value, no incentive for the sale and leaseback people. Where there is equity, a family’s biggest asset has been sold cheaply for a few months extra in their home.

The regulators have a consultative document for this, but there does not appear to be any provision for independent legal advice or independent financial advice, which would be the case with equity release for example. Could be a worthwhile area for solicitors and IFAs to work together.