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abasic chat with a soliciter willbe cheap or free.
office of public guardian as above for abuse of poa
That is not something she has the authority to do.
It's something they can apply to have done - theres a procedure - but they can't just do it. An attorney can be removed if they themselves lose capacity for instance, or if they breach their duties. Removing an Attorney would involve the Court of Protection and the person making that application to the court would need to have legitimate grounds to apply for that removal - some identifiable failing of legal duty, not just a disagreement.
An attorney can't change someone's will
That said - a diagnosis of dementia does not automatically mean someone lacks capacity, it depends a great deal on the specific condition and how advanced it is. The 'donor' - the person who created the LPoA (ie the mother in this instance) is able to remove attorneys and change wills provided they still have the capacity to do so. So while you say the mother has dementia it's not clear how capable she is in making decisions.
But if the mother hasn't told your friend of these decisions (the house sale, changes to POA etc) herself then it would suggest something more coercive is going on
Personally I'd be getting the Office of the Public Guardian involved
They have a form you can submit to 'raise a concern'
Tj has covered the key points. Most solicitors dealing with this stuff would do 1/2hr free chat to discuss possible routes forward and costs. IF the ultimate outcome is to stop misuse of the mums PoA I think mum’s money can ultimately pay for subsequent legal costs. If mum has no money then legal aid MAY help.
@bunnyhop I am a bit late to the party on this one, but it is my field of work. With anything to do with LPA's the overriding principle is that any decision made on behalf of the donor must be 1) In their best interests and 2) Based on the attorney's knowledge of the donor closest to the decision that the donor would have made for themselves.
One attorney cannot simply remove another from the document - the donor would have to consent to the removal, do a deed of revocation and put new LPAs in place. So there is something missing in the whole story.
That said it would appear clear that the sister is not acting in her mother's best interests and that a degree of elder abuse / financial abuse is taking place.
If your friend cannot afford a solicitor to fight her corner then her only course of action is to alert the safeguarding team at the Office of the Public Guardian. Their job is to investigate the abuse of LPAs and should they find anything they would remove the sister. There are potential criminal sanctions too, so sis could end up spending some time at his majesty's pleasure. I have been involved in two cases where this happened (both had missapropriated serious 6 figure sums).
OPG can be reached here https://www.gov.uk/report-concern-about-attorney-deputy-guardian
Thank you once again.
My friend says getting help is a minefield. She's now even got social services involved )the sister has lost the plot. I fear my friend will have a breakdown.