Case Study 1

Aileen and Peter's story

Aileen and Peter have been married for 30 years. Although, they own their home and which is held in joint names, Peter does not live at the family home. Peter moved into residential care 10 months ago, as he has a severely debilitating illness.

Aileen has rheumatoid arthritis and sometimes struggles to clean the house and to climb the stairs to use the bathroom facilities and access the bedrooms. Aileen has realised that the family home is too big for her now, and that she would rather live in something more manageable, like a small house or flat.

Peter no longer has capacity to make the joint decision to sell the house and to sign the agreement. As there is no Power of Attorney in place, giving someone else the necessary legal authority to take this action on his behalf, the family have sought legal advice from a solicitor as they intend making an application to the sheriff court to ask the Sheriff to grant them the necessary authority to sell the house.