Sue Mitchell will host a bonus episode of the podcast Shadow World: The Willpower Detectives at the end of this month.
She investigates how abuse of power of attorney can leave vulnerable people separated from friends and family and place them at risk of financial abuse.
When the series aired on BBC Radio 4, just before last Christmas, hundreds of listeners contacted the BBC with their own stories about power of attorney and the way it can be abused.
The series revealed how a partner at an Essex based law firm – Ron Hiller – was taking over the finances of vulnerable clients, clearing and selling their homes and leaving them without access to information about where their money had gone.
In many of these stories, it was family members – siblings, partners, and grandchildren – who were taking control of assets and in some instances, overseeing the drafting of new wills.
This additional episode reveals how a wealthy businessman, who’d already gifted each of his grandchildren a property, discovers what happens when one grandchild uses power of attorney to take more.
The programme exposes the difficulties involved when assessing mental capacity and especially when it comes to deciding who has financial control and who will inherit what’s often seen as ‘family money’.
James Warner, a consultant in age old psychiatry says issues of mental capacity must be considered in situations like these: “Dementia makes people susceptible to manipulation and those involved with overseeing important changes need to be extra vigilant.
“Elderly people with any degree of confusion can quickly find themselves in situations where they lose control of their money and where they’re extremely vulnerable. The systems are not addressing those cases well enough and more should be done to protect people.”
The bonus episode of Shadow World: The Willpower Detectives will be available on BBC Sounds from 31 March.
