Point of contact

My mother was dealing with a solicitor but she is overwhelmed at this stage with the amount of information that is being sent to her.

What document would need to be submitted to the solicitor so that all future correspondence comes to me on her behalf and that this solicitor does not contact my mother in future?

Thanks.

Peregrinus

I assume that the solicitor is acting for your mother and not, e.g., corresponding with her on behalf of someone else.

The solicitor will be a little bit leery of acting for a client with whom he is not allowed to correspond. But your mother can probably get him to agree to copy everything to you, and then you and your mother can agree that, when correspondence arrives from the solicitor, you will deal with it and she can ignore it, on the basis that if she needs to make a decision or sign an instruction you will explain it to her.

Slightly more formally, your mother can get the solicitor to draw up a power of attorney nominating and empowering you to deal with her business/property affairs, and then instruct the solicitor to deal with you and take instructions from you. You could then deal with the solicitor on your mother's behalf without involving her at all, if this is what she wants. But note that the solicitor will not do this unless he is satisfied that your mother fully understands what she is doing and is fully mentally competent to make a decision of this kind. He will also point out to her the risk involved - i.e. that you could make decisions about her affairs that are not the decisions she would make, and that may not be in her interests. So this is not a trivial thing.

It is not a power of attorney situation at all rather a simple disagreement over how something was handled by the solicitor and my mother is feeling overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork for this one off issue.

Basically just need the solicitor to direct all demands and send all correspondence to me and I can summarise it for her and take the next steps that she ok's so wondering what needs to be done to have the solicitor send everything to me instead of her.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118913713#Comment_118913713

She has to instruct the solicitor to send all the correspondence to you. He has to accept the instruction. Alternatively your mother can just forward everything to you when she receives it. (The low tech solution, but perfectly effective.)

When it comes to communicating your mother's decision to the solicitors, she will still need to do that directly - the solicitor will not take your instructions (unless your mother executes a power of attorney in your favour). But there's no reason why you shouldn't prepare a letter to the solicitor for her to read, sign and send.

So basically just send a letter? Nothing more specific required than that? Thanks.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118914245#Comment_118914245

I suggest she should discuss it with the solicitor first. His concern will be the possibility of "elder abuse" - you takikng over your mother's affairs and conducting them as you think fit/for your own benefit, rather than as she wishes; he'll want to know that your mother understands the arrangement and is happy about it, and he will want to be comfortable that it is for her benefit.

That is fair enough so long as he doesn't try to pressure her into taking a particular course of action that will result in him earning additional fees.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118919427#Comment_118919427

The solicitor's duty is not to minimise his own fees; it's to protect his client's interests. He'll need to ensure that your mother is protected in whatever arrangement is put in place. And, while I don't doubt that you are a loving, dutiful and conscientious son, concerned only to look after your mother as she would wish, it would clearly be negligent for the solicitor - who presumably doesn't know you from Adam - simply to assume that this will be so. If it takes time to investigate this, advise your mother about this, and set it up properly, yes, there will be cost implications.

Ah it's a very minor issue, shouldn't take long.