New to the board - question re childrens savings accounts

miracleneeded

Hi All,

I've been reading all the posts on this board for the last week or so, as sadly our business has gone belly-up and apart from having to cease trading (is a limited company), hubby and me have no jobs and unless a miracle happens very very soon, we are likely to be going BR and losing our home.

I'm sure I'll have lots of questions as time goes on, but here's my first one:

Our two children each have a savings account with about two thousand quid in. Will these be taken as assets?

Thanks in advance for your help!

DON79

I am not certain but they may be exempt if the account is held in trust with you or your OH as trustee for the children. So they could be safe?

The only example I can quote is that the halifax took money to pay a debt of mine from my sons account which I was trustee of. They returned it in full after I made a big complaint. So i guess if it is in trust, it will be viewed as childrens money but I cannot say for certain am afraid.

strimmerman

Sorry to hear of your troubles...the board is great and as you have read you will get some great help.

Good question.....I hope not and don't see why they should as it is in their names not your or OH's.....however I would like to add a bit to your question.

3 of my kids have accounts with money in (spread between 2 accounts)...about £1750 inn total I think.....as they were opened when they were tiny the account is in their name with me as the (I can' think what you call it) I am not a joint on the account just like the gaurdian of it......will i have to declare these accounts and close them and make alternative arrangements for this kids money or would the OR be able to take this.....it has been there for years and is their money NOT mine. In fact I have a feeling that one of the accounts has never even had the address changed on it. There have been a few withdrawls from the other accounts mainly around Xmas time in previous years. The older of them would now be able to have have accounts in their sole names as they are 10 and 11 but the youngest is 7 not sure if she is old enough.

Should I start to panic about this now as i do not want my kids to lose theor own money just beacuse my name is connected with the account.

skylight

Depends on the age of the children and how the accounts are held. If the accounts are solely in their names then no, the OR could not take these. Or even if you hold the trust and the children are named, then no.

BUT (as always!) do you or your OH owe the bank anything that you have the accounts with?? Childrens accounts have been known to have been frozen by the banks as opposed to the OR. And getting them unfrozen was a nightmare for one poster (whom I cannot remember her name)

To be on the safe side, is there a Nan/Granddad who could open new accounts for the children elsewhere and act as trustees (depending on the age of the children), and put the money their instead??

miracleneeded

Thanks for the replies folks. I feel the same way as you strimmerman - OH and me have messed up big time and the kids are going to be badly affected by it as it is - it would be so sad to see their savings disappearing too.

Thanks for the support.

miracleneeded

skylight wrote: »

Depends on the age of the children and how the accounts are held. If the accounts are solely in their names then no, the OR could not take these. Or even if you hold the trust and the children are named, then no.

BUT (as always!) do you or your OH owe the bank anything that you have the accounts with?? Childrens accounts have been known to have been frozen by the banks as opposed to the OR. And getting them unfrozen was a nightmare for one poster (whom I cannot remember her name)

To be on the safe side, is there a Nan/Granddad who could open new accounts for the children elsewhere and act as trustees (depending on the age of the children), and put the money their instead??

I don't think that we owe that building society any money so hopefully it'll be OK. It's all very complex this BR stuff isn't it? I must have spent about four full days looking at the insolvency website, the business debtline website etc. Very scared indeed!

peachyprice

Your childrens account should be fine as far as the OR is concerned, however, as Skylight says some unscrupulous banks think it's fine to raid childrens accounts, although they have no right to and will have to give it back.

Our biggest creditor was HSBC, all 3 of my children have accounts with them and are all still up and running, even the one that I am named on for our 7yo. First time that bank has done anything right:rolleyes:

skylight

To put it in perspective - I am a trustee on my step-daughters account along with my husband. We are quite specifically trustees (although we could take what we wanted at any point, we don't!!) with her clearly named as the account holder (who cannot touch the money!). We are looking at £19k in it. My OR required proof of my trusteeship and that was it. It worried me to death before BR. I was ready to get proof of who the cheque was originally made payable to and even the reasons why the money was paid to her in the first place. My original "underling" (Not the OR, but the person who actually took the interview) thought that I would need proof of myself being asked to be trustee - of course, that is just not possible and was actually not required at all after I spoke again to someone who knew what they were talking about!

I did not owe the building society that the money is held in any funds at all, and everything has been fine with the account to date.

But it really does depend on how the accounts are held.

blind-as-a-bat_2

If the ccounts are in your childrens name, but you are named as a signotory there is a good chance the BS will still close the account because its the oldest trick in the book for those that abuse the BR sytem to hide funds in a childs account so the bank or BS wont allow an account you can accsess.

Best bet is to do as already suggested and distance yourself from them via granparents or any trusted relative , its the simplest solution

strimmerman

I have called National Debtline.

First off the thoight wouldn't have even crossed my mind to declare these if you had not posted on here Miracleneeded...so thanks for that.

They said that I should declare them and be straight down the line about it. However it is possible they might be frozen due to my connection with them....not that it bothers me freezing is OK it is plundering them for money I am worried about. They then told me to call the Insolvency service tomorrow to clarify the position.

I then said that as I have checked and they are all old enough to actually simply have the accounts converted to their own names and remove me from the equation completely that I could do that. NDL said no don't do that just play it by the book leave everything as it is declare it and see what happens with the OR.....but that they thought the money itself would be safe.

I will called the IS tomorrow and report back on what they say. I can prove that we have paid nothing in for years and the only thing we have done is removed money around Xmas time to afford their Xmas presents for the last few years. So ulitmately any money that was removed was for the kids own gain anyway NOT ours, and that amounts to maybe £750 over 2/3 years.

I do owe money to the bank that some of their savings are with but they have never touched it....I have worried in the past on the couple of occasions I withdraw money if they would jump on me over the counter...but they haven't. The other accounts are with a BS and are our only connection with them.

maxmycardagain

miracleneeded wrote: »

Hi All,

I've been reading all the posts on this board for the last week or so, as sadly our business has gone belly-up and apart from having to cease trading (is a limited company), hubby and me have no jobs and unless a miracle happens very very soon, we are likely to be going BR and losing our home.

just because your Ltd company goes tits up doesnt automatically mean you need go personally BR, that depends on personal debt, and income/outgoing.

a Ltd company is a separate entity, unlike a sole trader