Two UK resident nieces of a 91-year-old man in an Irish nursing home have been directed by the President of the High Court to account for the entire proceeds of the sale of the elderly man's house in the North of England.
Ms Justice Mary Irvine today also sought undertakings from the women that the funds from the sale of the house for £160,000 (€178,600) not be dissipated until further order of the High Court in Dublin.
The 91-year old who has advanced dementia cannot be named by order of the court. He had lived at the UK house before he was moved back to an Irish nursing home from the UK last year. He had lived in the UK since he emigrated to there when he was a young man.
The directions arose after Ms Justice Mary Irvine was told that the property in the North of England was sold in January this year.
The court heard that the 91-year old had been visited by a court appointed medical visitor earlier this month who was wearing full PPE and he reported back that he was satisfied the pensioner would not have the capacity in relation to the sale of the property or the making of a bequest.
Ms Justice Irvine was told that the man and a niece did not now want him assessed for long-term care, but they wanted him to go and live with his 88-year-old sister in Ireland.
Irish nursing home
In an affidavit to the court HSE solicitor Katharine Kelleher said the 91-year old had returned to Ireland from the UK in 2019 to be close to his family. Prior to his arrival in the Irish nursing home, he had been in long-term nursing care in the UK, due to alleged extreme self neglect, which resulted in malnutrition, and he was living in very poor living conditions.
A medical report she said from September this year said the 91-year-old does not have the mental capacity to make informed and independent decisions regarding his medical, personal and financial affairs which the medic noted places him at risk in terms of financial abuse.
Ms Kelleher said the elderly man’s former home in the UK was sold for £160,000 last January. Queries relating to the property sale had been raised with the man’s two nieces by the Fair Deal Nursing Home Support Scheme office and the women had failed to deal with them.
She said the HSE remains very concerned about the welfare of the 91-year-old, and that it is proving extremely challenging to ascertain the true financial position of the elderly man to enable his Fair Deal application to be completed.
The case will come back before the court on December 17th.
