Case study: Mental Capacity to act as an Executor and form PA14
Edward and Betty met at the local Young Farmers club in North Norfolk as teenagers. They began a joyous courtship where they shared the love of dancing and the outside countryside pursuits in abundance with them living in rural North Norfolk. Edward would pick Betty up each Friday night, and together they would get a bag of chips and sit on a bench facing the Cromer Pier watching the tide go in and out, laughing and speculating about what sort of people might be on the fishing boats they watched on the horizon.
Edward and Betty married in their early 20s and had a wonderful day celebrating with their family and friends. Edward continued to work on the family farm, and Betty trained to be a Nurse, enjoying the opportunity to utilise her caring and attentive nature in helping care for those who were unwell.
Edward and Betty were desperate for a family of their own and became increasingly despondent when their close friends from the Young Farmers began having babies shortly after they were married, and went on to have two or three children, whilst Edward and Betty remained just the two of them. Shortly before his 30th birthday, Edward lost his parents in quick succession, and so Betty gave up nursing so that she could help Edward take over the full-time running of the farm.
Just as the couple were settling into a rhythm of running the farm together, Betty received the most unexpected news, the baby that the couple had been longing for was finally going to be blessed upon them. Edward took on some additional workers to support him with the farm, insistent that his beloved Betty should have plenty of rest and put her health first, whilst her pregnancy progressed.
When baby Alex arrived, the couple were so ecstatic and felt blessed. Edward was proud beyond belief at the beautiful, healthy baby boy and future heir to the farm. Alex grew into an attentive and loyal son. After moving away to university, where he met his wife Amy, the couple returned to North Norfolk, where they went on to have three wonderful grandchildren for Edward and Betty. Alex took on more responsibility in the running of the farm so that Edward and Betty could enjoy the countryside pursuits which bonded them in the first instance and gradually began to wind down some of their work responsibilities.
With their grandchildren now all safely grown up, with two of them enjoying life at university and the third enjoying a backpacking trip around Australia, Alex began to notice that something just didn’t seem right with Betty. After finding his mother wandering, seemingly confused in the local village at 6am on a very frosty December morning, under Amy’s sensitive guidance, Alex and his wife approached Edward to talk frankly about the worries they had for Betty. After some gentle persuasion, Edward took Betty to see the GP, and she was later diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Over the next three years, Edward, Alex and Amy devoted their time to supporting Betty at home. Working out a good rota between them, Alex worked the farm, and between them they ensured Betty was happy and safe by taking it in turns to care for her.
However, in late January of that year, Betty was discovered lost and wandering in the village four times in a single week in the late evening. Betty was leaving her home and wandering confused in the dark and cold through the village after Edward had fallen asleep.
As a family, they came to the difficult decision that they could no longer keep Betty safe at home due to the frequency of her wandering behaviour, terrified she could slip and fall whilst confused in icy, cold January conditions, or worse still she might stumble into one of the many ponds located around the farm should she continue to leave the house unsupervised. Amy and Alex found a wonderful care home, a short drive from the farm, and Edward continued to visit his beloved wife each day, bringing her in photos of the pair of them on Cromer beach, and would sit and read to her which continued to make her smile although she variably mistook Edward for her late father as her Alzheimer’s disease continued to progress.
A year after Betty entered the care home, Edward became acutely unwell and Alex called 999, travelling to the hospital with his father in the ambulance. After some tests, the hospital doctors delivered the devastating news that Edward had pancreatic cancer. The cancer progressed at a rapid rate, with Edward entering a hospice where he spent his last moments not even 3 months later from his cancer diagnosis. Edward’s funeral had over 200 people in attendance, mostly from the local village and farming community, and Alex delivered a wonderful eulogy on his father, who had been loved and respected by so many.
Two weeks after the funeral, Alex visited the local Solicitors whom his parents had always dealt with to have Edward’s Will read. The Solicitor, Janice, read the Will, explaining how Betty and Edward had made mirror Wills, leaving the entirety of their estate to each other in the first instance, but upon both their deaths, Alex would inherit everything. Janice explained that as Betty has survived her husband, Edward’s estate would go to Betty in full. However, Janice then explained that as Edward and Betty had also appointed each other as sole executors of their Wills, nothing would be able to be moved forward until it had been established whether Betty could still act as executor and that, given her Alzheimer’s disease, she would need an executor capacity test. Alex explained there was no way that his mother could fulfil this role any longer, as she no longer recognised her own family, never mind understand how to take care of her late husband’s estate as executor.
Janice explained that Betty would require an executor capacity assessment, as probate could not be progressed until Betty was legally assessed as no longer able to act as executor of Edward’s estate, and a PA14 probate form must thereafter be completed to evidence her lack of capacity for HMCTS. Alex took the PA14 form and contacted Betty’s GP to ask if they could complete a capacity to act as an executor assessment. The GP responded 4 weeks later to advise that they were ‘not qualified or insured to complete such a form’ and suggested that Alex instead ask Social Services. Alex spent 4 hours on hold to various Social Services teams, before finally having his query escalated to a senior manager who advised ‘we have no statutory responsibility to assist with form PA14, and we have long waiting lists already for the services we do have responsibility to assist with, apologising that they would not be able to assist.
Alex went back to see Janice again at her office with the care plans from Betty’s care home, which explained how impaired she now is cognitively, explaining to Janice that no one would sign form PA14, asking Janice if HMCTS would accept Betty’s care plan as evidence of her incapacity. Janice acknowledged Alex’s frustrations but explained that without an approved professional completing an executor capacity test and probate form PA14, there was nothing she could do to progress Edward’s probate.
Finally, after watching her husband’s frustration and wasted time being passed around without any success, Amy did a Google search of ‘who can complete an executor mental capacity test’ and ‘who can complete probate form PA14’, leading her to the website of Thornton & Lee. Thornton & Lee immediately accepted Betty’s referral for an executor capacity assessment, booking the appointment for two days later, and had the full executor capacity test report and signed form PA14 back to Alex and his Solicitor within 7 days.
If you would like to discuss arranging an executor capacity test or completion of form PA14 you can get in touch with Thornton & Lee here and a friendly and professional member of our team will be in touch promptly to offer you a free no obligation consultation to discuss your needs.