A nursing home group has initiated legal action against the estate of a deceased ward of court over €185,000 allegedly owed in fees.
The proceedings were filed in the High Court on behalf of Nazareth Care Ireland (NCI), a not-for-profit organisation and registered charity operating eight care homes in Ireland.
The case is against the administrator of the estate of the woman, who was a resident of an NCI nursing home from 2018 until her death in 2024.
It is claimed the woman entered a contract of care with the nursing home at a cost of €830 weekly. Under the contract, payments were to be made within four weeks of demand, it is claimed.
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There was default of payment obligations from about six months after the woman became a resident of the home, it is claimed.
It is claimed the woman’s daughter, when contacted in 2019 about the default, had said an application for her mother to be made a ward of court was being prepared.
Solicitors for the Health Service Executive had informed solicitors for NCI in September 2020 that the woman’s daughter had forwarded to the HSE the Nazareth Care Ireland demand for payment. The Health Service Executive intended to apply to have the woman made a ward of court, its solicitors said.
In 2021, solicitors for Nazareth Care Ireland had informed the HSE’s solicitors the debt was then about €117,000, it is claimed.
Failure to progress the application for wardship seemed an abuse of NCI’s goodwill and represented a threat to the continuing operation of the nursing home where the woman was resident, said the Nazareth Care Ireland solicitors.
The woman was made a ward of court in late 2022, but the default of payments continued up to her death in 2024.
When a nursing home resident is admitted to wardship, their wardship committee is obliged to pay the nursing home costs out of the ward’s estate, it is claimed.
The general solicitor of wards of court or their servants or agents, as the committee for the ward, had written to NCI’s solicitor in April 2023 saying they were still in the process of reviewing the assets of the woman and of her late husband, who was also a ward of court.
The couple held assets in the United Kingdom and an order of the UK Court of Protection would be required to access those funds, Nazareth Care Ireland’s lawyers were told.
In response to further correspondence after the woman’s death in 2024, the office of the general solicitor had said in March 2025 they accepted the deceased’s debt and that steps were being taken to discharge it.
A demand for payment of about €185,000 was issued in July 2025, but no payment was made, it is claimed.
In early April last, solicitors for Nazareth Care Ireland wrote to the deceased’s daughter seeking information about the administration of the estate and giving notice that the debt due was €185,159 and NCI intended to issue proceedings for payment.
No payment was made and Nazareth Care Ireland, in its proceedings issued on Thursday, is seeking summary judgment in that sum, plus interest. However, if payment is made within six days of the summons being served, further proceedings will be stayed.
