Couple 'grooming' lonely elderly people.

Gifts of property
Any gift or transfer of real property (for example, land or a house) – either the whole property or a part share – is almost certainly outside of your powers as a deputy or attorney, despite what the person might have said when they had mental capacity. To make such a gift, you are likely to have to apply to the Court of Protection for permission.
You may choose to gift personal possessions or furniture of modest or sentimental value to family members – for example, when disposing of the contents of the person's house.
You shouldn't give items that are worth a lot, unless authorised by the Court of Protection.
I found this on .gov
So in no way of sound mind or not souls that gifting should not be happening you are in a position where you can take advantage or your position and if you are correct that is reportable

I agree that English law seems to allow you to leave your entire property to whomsoever you will, but there is such a thing as undue influence.

A warden on an residential estate is presumably in a position of trust, and may well by the terms of his or her employment not be allowed to receive gifts from people living on the estate.

In you place I would take my worries to the employer of these wardens - I am unclear what the wardens' duties actually are.

If you make or change a will the solicitor drawing it up is obliged to ascertain that the testator understands fully what he or she is doing - this applies at any time of life, but most solicitors confronted with an elderly person who wishes to change their will, will be extremely cautious.

But of course, a will can be drawn up and later accepted for probate without a solicitor having been involved.

Everything may be above board, but it does not sound like it to me. In your place, I would broach my concern to whoever runs the estate, and if I got no joy there, go to social services.

If these carers have already inherited 2 properties they do not need to work any longer. They can well afford to retire... And carry on befriending lonely elderlies.

I'd be inclined to ask the police to take a look. They would be able to run background checks and see if there was any reason to be concerned. I'd be more interested in seeing when the will was written in relation to when the people died!

I think I would take action. Firstly discuss with Citizens Advice to see if anything can be done. People can become very vulnerable in their last years. My mother was very on the ball all her life, but she was conned by her carer in her final couple of years. Nothing major, but the carer claimed to be an artist and produced paintings which she then sold to Mum for large amounts. They were paint-by-numbers bought from Amazon costing nothing. She also sold Mum beautiful 'antiques' i.e. tat picked up from car boot sales. All the family lived at a distance, but when we found out what was going on there was quite a confrontation. Mum knew she was completely dependent on the carer and didnt want any change so she stoutly resisted our attempts to replace her even when we gently explained the con. Eventually we took it up with the agency who fired her, apparently she had a whole host of similar cons going on with elderly clients.

If they were still wardens then that would put a different light on things - I'd report them like a shot!

I take it that they are now friends with the people they help.

There are threads talking about the huge problems care, finances, failing health and ageing cause.
Nobody to leave your house to?
Want to keep living there?
Pay a friend.

Please please please report them - adult social care will have a safeguarding line. I worked in adult social care with older people and Thai sort of thing is often ignored. It's wrong. If it's innocent and the elderly people have capacity then fine. But please, report

Not sure from original post whether the couple are still wardens or not - not clear from wording of post. It says they ‘were wardens’.

I would guess it is not coincidental at all.
The couple have seen a gap in the market for people who need care and help, and are exploiting it.
Again though, unless the people they help are unable to choose for themselves how to live their own lives, under their own terms, then no safeguarding issues are happening.
Unpalatable, yes, perhaps, but if I had nobody else to help me (which is a huge problem, as I am in that position currently) then I would happily leave someone my home in return for help and support.

I became a mobile manicurist in my 50s and saw an awful lot of this sort of thing. If I had been of a criminal mind I could be a very rich woman now.

Most of my clients were very elderly women who lived alone. Some were extremely rich widows. One lady, when it came time to pay, told me to go into the front room where I would find a tin on the table with money in it. I brought it straight in to her and opened it in front of her only to find at least £1k in the tin !

I saw people being groomed by their cleaners, gardeners and other folk who worked for them. Possibly some of these folk went above and beyond and deserved a reward, but I wonder.

I'm very surprised that this has been allowed to happen if the couple are 'employed' as wardens, surely there's guides in place to stop this type of financial abuse, have you heard of 'whistle blowing' I'd go online and report what you think is happening so it can be looked into fully

I’m in agreement with you sodapop & MissA. Would people make such a fuss if a lonely elderly person left their entire estate to a cat charity? Unless there’s clear evidence to the contrary, it appears that this couple may have made the final years of a few elderly people very happy. So, they benefitted - so what. The owner of a care home benefits when an elderly person has to sell their home to pay for care!

I would report to adult care services

I agree with others who say report it to someone, because surely at the very least its obtaining by deception of some kind?If one has person bequeathed their home to them maybe fair enough, but for it to keep on happening is surely more than a 'coincidance' and should at least be investigated? And how do they even know they weren't 'helped on their way' at all? Stranger things have happened before.?

Report them to the Police ask them to investigate
Poor people
They need to stop doing this to the elderly

Yes, it does.
The safeguarding training I did always emphasises that we must not put our own judgement into "protecting" people who have the ability to make their own choices.

All we can endeavour to do is ensure they are informed choices.

Everyone has the right to make "bad" decisions.

Possibly the coersion factor is now much more considered, though, so it would be worth passing on the info to those who can check if that is what is happening.

Happened to my granny. Her nephew and his wife tried it when she was very elderly. To be fair, she did need help but nephew was trying it on. He and the wife would stay overnight at my granny's, but not sleep in a bedroom. He slept on a mattress on the floor in the room next to the living room where granny was sleeping then.

Fortunately, my granny didn't change her will. But it was very awkward at the funeral, when they turned up, expecting I'm sure to be offered something 'in thanks'.

Seems we are in the minority MissA

Goldieoldie15

I am still befuddled by all the abbé used on this site. Who exactly is DH?

Dear (or dratted, as the case may be) husband.

Likewise dear daughter, dear son etc.

Admittedly they can be confusing at first. When I first encountered ‘dh’ on a forum (over 20 years ago now) I was wondering whether it meant Dopey Herbert etc., but pretty soon twigged.

This is a safeguarding issue as well as potentially being criminal In the first instance contact Social work department and say you have safeguarding concerns for the latest victim but give details of previous victims too It's their job to deal with situation

Unless there’s evidence of abuse, I think you shouldn’t interfere. No doubt these elderly people are without friends or family and are lonely. If someone is kind enough to spend time befriending and enhancing the end of someone’s life who are we to judge?

Some really good comments here. For reference look up Daphne Franks and her campaign to protect the elderly and vulnerable and www.predatorymarriage.co.uk

Hmmmm, you see you don't know for certain that there any grooming had taken place.

I do lots and lots for elderly out of pure and utter care, 100% care, because they have reached a time in their lives there they cant do A,B and C, now some people could twist that into Im doing it for ulterior motives, I'M CERTAINLY NOT. I have to add at this point that northing has been left to me and I most certainly wouldn't want it to be.

Its entirely up to the individual what they do with their money/assets but if grooming HAS taken place ( but how can it be proved ??) then yes its BEYOND DISGUSTING and needs reporting.....

I would contact the police with your concerns...it won't do any harm in having a "chat" with them

I would say that if the couple treated the elderly people with kindness and companionship, as you describe, then there’s nothing wrong with them being gifted substantial amounts in wills. After all, you say the elderly people had no family so who would they leave their estate to? Do we think it’s wrong when people leave all their money to charities etc? The charity hasn’t coerced them and as long as this couple didn’t coerced anyone (which we don’t know) then no harm done. It’s entirely up to an individual who benefits from their estate when they die. Personally, unless I heard that coercive treatment had taken place (with proof) I’d stay out of it. It could start to look like gossip which can easily get out of hand.