I have just returned from visiting a friends father in a nursing home. The son is 72 and has Power of Attorney in his favour.
The father qualifies for full NHS funding and is not having to pay any fees for the nursing home.
As a result the father's money is gathering at a rate of over £20,000 per year.
As no local nursing home would take the father he is in a nursing home 25 miles from where the son lives.
When the father entered the home he was expected to live for about a year but somehow he has managed to go on for just over 5 years and could go on for some time yet.
The son visits most days and his car has done 130,000 miles and it was new when the father entered the home.
Most of this mileage is as a result of visits to the home and running about for clothes etc for his father.
The son's car has just passed its MOT but the garage has warned him it will need some expensive repairs in the next few months and he is concerned he probably will not be able to visit as much as he has expensive petrol costs etc.
I was just wondering if it would be in order for the son to buy a new car using the father's money to enable these visits to continue?.
The son is the sole beneficiary of the father's estate and would rather use his father's money to continue the visits rather than have a bigger inheritance.
There is no reasonable public transport to the home.
If the son used public transport he would have to catch 3 busses each way and it would take 2 and a half hours. The son has done this a few times when there has been adverse weather conditions but it would be unreasonable to expect the son to do this every day in view of his age.
I have to admire the son for driving nearly 20,000 miles a year to visit and keep his father in the best state possible.
Frank
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