In a case which underlined the vulnerabilities of old age – and the need for professional advice and careful planning to alleviate them – a carer accused of abusing the trust of an elderly woman worth £30 million has been ordered out of her charge's home by the Court of Protection.
The woman was aged in her 80s, suffered from Parkinson’s disease and had also been diagnosed with early stage dementia. Her son and daughter were concerned that her long-term carer had developed a dominant role in her life and had subjected her to emotional, physical and financial abuse. She was accused of having extracted several million pounds from the woman and her husband before his death.
The carer vehemently denied any wrongdoing and none of the allegations against her had been substantiated or put to proof. However, the Court issued an injunction requiring her to move out of the pensioner’s home forthwith. She had subsequently complied with that order, also agreeing to stand down as executor of the woman’s estate and to renounce her appointments under a lasting power of attorney and as health care proxy under the woman's living will. Interim responsibility for the woman’s care was conferred upon her children.