Financial Consultant Charged His Mother $608 Per Day To Visit Her

This son used his mother in a particularly vile way. During her mental and physical illnesses, the 62-year-old son thought it was more beneficial to increase his inheritance than help his mother live better.

Daily Mail Online reports that, for the sake of anonymity, the son was simply recorded as “Martin.” In his younger days, he was a project manager for an accountancy combine called Ernst and Young. After he left that company, he became an independent contractor, sometime during the 1990s.

While an independent contractor, this son allegedly charged his clients $608 per day for representation. So, he figured to charge his 87-year-old, dementia-sickened mother — Sheila — the same when he placed her in a nursing home, in 2004. Supposedly, Martin was handling his mother’s estate and financial affairs under a “power of attorney” authorization. However, Sheila’s son was doing no such thing.

When Power of Attorney goes wrong. Son charges mother for visiting https://t.co/HM0zVmdy3m

— When They Get Older (@TheyGetOlder) October 28, 2015

Since his mother had a progressive form of dementia, Martin saw no reason to help her. During an appearance before the Court of Protection, he told Senior Judge Denzil Lush, “I am the sole beneficiary of the estate… considering her present state of health, [her death] is likely to be sooner rather than later.”

This came after Martin was accused of pocketing a certain reimbursement check of approximately $103,673 — which was paid to him by a Welsh National Health Services board, in order to handle his mother’s medical and residential expenses. However, Martin chalked up the payment as “out-of-pocket expenses.”

Britain’s most heartless son? Man charges elderly mother £400 a day for VISITING HER https://t.co/zO27REbsMh pic.twitter.com/YjsU6uhDrs

— Daily Express (@Daily_Express) October 28, 2015

He was able to get away with the deception because his mother wouldn’t remember anything — whether it be visitations or financial talks. Actually, investigating officer Sophie Farley, at the Office of the Public Guardian, noted that Martin didn’t visit Sheila much at all. According to Farley’s testimony, the word she used was “rarely.”

The officer also mentioned that Sheila’s son pocketed around $178,431 total from his mother’s finances — all without paying much to the care facility concerning her needs. Martin told the court, “We get charged a lot for toiletries. I also don’t think she needs colour tinting. I know these are small points. I paid the charges in 2014 and I was going to pay them this year.”

The color-tinting comment came as an address to his mother’s request to have her hair color changed. Even hairdressing accommodations went unacknowledged by her son. He owed the care facility nearly $684 for all the person care products it provided to Sheila.

During Martin’s time in front of the judge, he expressed that he didn’t see a need to pay his mother back for any funds that were taken from her fortune, because in the end, they were all coming back to him anyway. So, Martin deemed such a thing “senseless.”

Senior Judge Lush was appalled by the son and stated, “I believe that charging one’s elderly mother a daily rate of £400 [close to $608] for visiting and acting as her attorney is repugnant.”

At this point, according to ITV News, the judge removed the son as Sheila’s attorney. To this, Martin protested, mentioning that there was no need to replace him at all. Judge Lush specifically noted that Martin didn’t give so much as a consideration to his mother’s hair coloring request. There was a persistence in “bad faith,” Judge Lush said.

After stripping the son of his attorney powers as well as replacing him, the judge offered the following words as a close.

“The panel deputy will, for the first time in eleven years, place Sheila at the centre of the decision-making process, rather than view the preservation and enhancement of Martin’s inheritance as the paramount consideration.”

Since 2004, Martin has been slowly building atop the inheritance he will already receive at the time of his mother’s death. Is this not an outlandish example of greed and the consequences it could have on others? What are your thoughts? How do you feel about Sheila’s son, Martin? What if you were in her shoes? Feel free to share your expressions in the comments section.

[Photo by Comstock / Stockbyte]