Bank accounts

flakie

Hi everyone. I need some advice and insight into banking for someone who lacks capacity. My son is 43 and lives at home with me and his dad. He has autism and LD. I am his appointee but we don’t have POA as he lacks capacity and we don’t have a Deputyship as we’ve never needed it. He has two current accounts. They are both in joint names with me. One is purely for his direct payments out of which I pay once a month for his day service. The other receives his benefits - UC, PIP and ESA. Out of this I take an amount for housekeeping once a month and the rest is his for day to day expenses, clothing, outings etc etc. These have been open for years and I didn’t have a problem opening them as at the time safeguarding and the MCA were not on the radar. I’m now told that the way these are set up is wrong and they should be in his name only. I shouldn’t have been allowed to open them as he could not give consent. And so on. We are about to start talks with SS about him moving out so things will change. I’ve been told by several people that the only way to sort this and make sure things are being done correctly is by having a Deputyship. Does anyone have any advice or insight as to our situation and what we should do about it? Totally out of my depth here. Many thanks.