Probate concerns

ROSEY

This is my problem.
I am Number 3/5 children. The eldest child is my half sister and she doesn't get along with at least 3 of us. Recently, my mum was ill and she was moved to a nursing home by my half sister.
My brother-in-law (her husband) applied for power of attorney and despite every effort on my part to be named jointly, the Office of Attorney messed up and for reasons unknown, only my brother-in-law was named. I thought it awful that not one of five children was also named and since I had been in business and was good with figures, I found it odd.
My BII took over my mothers financial affairs. He sends out annual reports but my concern is when he first took over my mother's affairs. Money was moved out of accounts of her choice and put into accounts of his choice. my mother had mentioned money being in different accounts, and I made a note of her chosen accounts. This is my point. Since my BII took over, I have not been able to check what happened to my mothers finances at the outset of his taking over. Three of us would like to know.
My dear mum died on Boxing Day. Now, I really would like to know if there is any way that I can get a copy of the bank statements from her old accounts (now closed).
I just would like to know the facts.
Help appreciated.
Rosey

dzug1

You can apply to the Court of Protection for an order for the Attorney to account for his actions. It will cost you - my guess is £400 but I may be way out.

Who is getting probate? You may be able to arrange with the executor for informal access - assuming he has the documents. If there was no will you are entitled to be at least a joint administrator of the estate and will be able to investigate yourself.

dzug1

ROSEY wrote: »

Money was moved out of accounts of her choice and put into accounts of his choice. my mother had mentioned money being in different accounts, and I made a note of her chosen accounts. This is my point. Since my BII took over, I have not been able to check what happened to my mothers finances at the outset of his taking over. Three of us would like to know.

Rosey

He was entitled to do this if there was a reasonable cause to do so - higher interest, more convenient to deal with, simplification - all sorts of reasons are possible..

Do you have suspicions of misdealing - or are you just interested to know what happened?

ROSEY

The honest answer would be - both, but I am not on my own in wondering about this. Yes, there is a will. As the attorney, he was permitted to do as he wished. But I am talking about the period just prior to his becoming the nominated attorney by law because my mother had been persuaded to put her money into on-line accounts which had been set up for her by my BII. She couldn't access it on her own and had to go through him. I would like to know if I am entitled to apply to the bank for copies of the accounts prior to them being closed down. In our view, the figures didn't seem to add up, but, this may have been due to money having been set aside to pay taxes. All is possible, but since I am being kept out of the loop, I think it not unfair to ask the question. Please remember, if there has been misdealing, there has been no conscience on the part of those who have done it. By knowing what happened, I know where I stand. We all need to know friend from foe, don't we? I'm not looking for a court case, I would just like to be allowed to see the documentation. I did make all this clear to the Probate Office at the time they failed me.
Thank you for your replies.
Rosey.

bryanb

The power of attorney ceased at your mum's death. After that, the executor has the power. Is he named as executor in her will?

ROSEY

The truth is that I do not know. I can only assume so.
I hope you may see that I know very little, and have, I know, been kept out, along with my younger siblings. Perhaps things will come to light in due course. The only way I shall get to know the contents of my mother's will is to send off for a copy of it at some point. I am probably too distressed to do too much at the moment, but, you know, if there has been misdealing, I do so dislike the thought that we've been treated like unimportant members of the family. I think I shall let this all ride a little and see what occurs. What say you?
Thank you for trying to help.
Rosey.

confused_I_think

As a matter of interest can the police investigate such matters?
I believe that the will becomes a public document once probate has been extracted.

chcfan24

I had to apply for EPA through the Court of Protection when my dad took ill with Vascular Dementia. The Court emptied his bank account and held the bulk of the money leaving me with a current account for his pensions to be paid into and to pay the home. To avoid my sister having the feelings you have I kept a basic income & expenditure spreadsheet on the computer which helped me with the accounts for the court at year end. I also printed it off on a regular basis to give to my sister simply to keep her in the loop because it is the not knowing that causes the bad feelings. In fact my sister was telling me not to give her the sheets so often.

dzug1

confused_I_think wrote: »

As a matter of interest can the police investigate such matters?
I believe that the will becomes a public document once probate has been extracted.

Well possibly, but the police are not overly interested in fraud, and they'd need a LOT more actual evidence than OP's vague uneasiness which could well be unjustified.