What if I cannot look after my money?

Sometimes if you go into hospital, you may have your mental capacity assessed. If you are deemed to lack mental capacity you will not be able to make decisions about your finances.

If you lose mental capacity for financial decisions you will not be able to agree repayments, make benefit applications or withdraw money from your bank account. In that case your carer could apply to get your debts written off by the creditors. If you have assets, this may be difficult as the creditors may wish to recover the debt regardless of your illness.

Your carer can apply for Controllership, if you lost capacity before you granted them an Enduring Power of Attorney. This means that they would manage your money, repay your debts etc. The Controllership is granted and supervised by the Office of Care and Protection (part of Court Service NI).

You can find out more about third parties managing your money in the section - Options for dealing with someone else’s debt.