Leaving your affairs in order..

Biggles

From personal (and, sadly, rather recent) experience, I know how essential it is to have these conversations with the ones you love, (and that applies even if they aren't particularly elderly or ill).
:-(

You must know what they would have wanted; and vice versa. Fortunately, we had had that conversation.

monkeyspanner

snoop2008 wrote: »

Last december when my brother passed away, I got thinking!!! Planning my funeral arrangments seemed a sensible thing to do. I have one beautiful daughter and we discussed my wishes and although hard, she thought it was a good idea. Last week I went to my local building society to have my life insurance reviewed to see if I could get a better deal. The nice man said my cover was great and to leave it as it was.

I made another appointment with my daughter to have her name added onto my savings account. She now has her own card to withdraw my money when that times comes. My mum had great differculty when my brother died and had lots of paper work to fill in the post office to get his money. But worked out well in the end.

I have seen the ageuk site and it is a great help!!!!

I have made arrangements to see a funeral director about a pre funeral plan with my daughter also.

And I have downloaded a funeral template from microsoft office and filled it in for my daughter to use and keep it with my other legal and personal info. it has sections about self, bank details, funeral directors, family, etc... You can download this from their website. I really believe that by doing all these things, my daughter will have a good knowledge what to do and what to expect.

Its a great thread!!!

I hope you don't mind me mentioning that by adding your daughter to your savings account she will be liable for 50% of any interest on that account, so if she is earning she may have to pay tax. Also usually banks freeze all accounts after death until probate is granted, although some exceptions may be made for funeral and other expenses.

Biggles

snoop2008 wrote: »

Having a joint savings account justs makes it easier for my daughter to access the funds she needs to do what she needs to do without questions being asked.

Monkeyspanner (above reply) is absolutely right

It won't actually make things easier overall. And, if she is concerned about funeral expenses etc, the bank/BS will pay the funeral director direct from your account if needed.

Savvy_Sue

Joint accounts have not, in our experience, been frozen - in fact we've been told that they cannot be frozen, and that all the money in them at the first death automatically passes to the survivor. Mum has been able to continue running what was a joint account with Dad with no problems whatsoever - SOs and DDs have continued, her name's come off the account but all the other details have remained the same.

the problem with the interest remains, however.

Mojisola

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

the problem with the interest remains, however.

Also, if the daughter ever needed to claim means tested benefits, she would be seen as having 50% of the account as assets.

seven-day-weekend

I had a joint account with my mum (my name and hers on the passbook); when she died it passed over to me, no questions asked.

seven-day-weekend

pollypenny wrote: »

Well done, MC!

SDW, one of reasons that I could never do a house exchange is clothes store storage! it would take my ages to empty drawers and wardrobes for the exchangers. I suppose clothes would have to go in the loft.

But if they are only coming for a week or two they only need one wardrobe (or even a clothes rail) and a couple of drawers, you don't need to empty them all!

Biggles

sloughflint wrote: »

If the account is joint, the daughter is perfectly entitled to access the money as it automatically becomes hers. No question of fraud.

Yes, I realised that afterwards, I was thinking of joint ownership being only for spouses but it does apply to any joint account.

I had been going to remove that part from my post but thought that might just confuse the issue more. I've removed it now.

snoop2008

Hiya Biggles, it's ok misunderstandings do happen!! I did get a bit nervous at first but the lady in the building society did say to me that my daughter did have every right to access the funds as it was now a joint account. There will be no one else, just her and me. I understand briefly about the tax issue. I am not all clued up but I am slowly getting my head around stuff. Thanks very much for the clarifications from others too!!

LibbyR26

When my dad died without warning at a relatively young age, my Mum was certain that all the important papers were in his briefcase. We opened the case to find a variety of paintings I'd done at nursery school - those obviously were the important ones to him.

The insurance policy turned up in a drawer and, unfortunately for my mum, it was accident only and so was useless. He was sold the policy by the bank when they bought the house years ago. He obviously hadn't appreciated the difference and could have got a proper policy for the same monthly payments he'd made for years. I know he'd have been so upset to have realised that my mum wasn't provided for in the way he envisaged.

As a result my Mum is better organised. She has put her wishes on her computer, with back up, for me to access when the time comes. I've also asked her to speak a bit about herself and her life and record it on a tape for me. That way I'll never forget the sound of her voice.

Best wishes to everyone on this post who have lost loved ones recently.