Sibling Rivalry - has she stolen from me? Advice needed

MoneyMaLady

When my niece was born I opened a bank account in her name and have been paying £20 into it every month ever since so that when she is 18 she has a bit of money towards her future, be that education, car, house, etc. I gave the account details to her Mum, my sister, so she could put in any birthday money she received.

My niece is now 8 years old and I have paid approximately £1900 into the account, however I recently received a statement that showed the account is empty. I confronted my sister and she said that she was financially desperate (her business was in trouble) and used the money to ensure her mortgage got paid. Her explanation did not add up as her mortgage is nowhere near that much, and in addition her business has since recovered and she’s been throwing cash around like it’s going out of fashion. I asked her for the account information back so I could check what she owed and sort out a repayment plan but she reacted aggressively and told me it was none of my business. The ensuing argument resulted in us not speaking.

I am now unsure what to do. Is she correct and it is none of my business what she does with the money and should I therefore stay out of it? Or should I insist that the money she took is paid back to me instead of the account I set up so that I can keep it in trust for my niece? Should I simply accept that I've lost the money and stop contributing?

Does anyone know if I have any legal rights in this case?

Apricot

Who's name was the account in?

MoneyMaLady

My niece's name. It's an NS&I account

fannyanna

I think you'd need to check the terms of the account. I'm guessing she has rights to access the money otherwise she wouldn't have been able to get it out.

I would not put anymore money into the account. Perhaps you could open another account that she can't access and make payments into that (if you still want to).

DVardysShadow

No one has stolen from you. Your sister has stolen from her daughter.

You should look carefully at the terms and conditions of the account to decide whether the bank have been negligent - and if they have, you should pursue them on behalf of your niece. Otherwise, just keep the evidence of having paid into the account and hand it over to your niece on her 18th. If you warn your sister now, she has 10 years to make the money reappear. Can't say fairer than that.

peachyprice

For future payments to your niece you might want to consider an account like this http://www.harpendenbs.co.uk/savings-childrens.asp. The money CANNOT be removed by anyone until the child is 18 years old, under any circumstances. This is where I put some money my Nan left to my children. It's really easy to administer, everything is done by post.

I'm sure other banks/building societies do something similar, at least you would know that the money was safe from your sister.

Guinea_2

If you want to continue to contribute into a bank account for your neice then I would open another account for this sole purpose and don't let your sister have any of the details. Don't even tell your sister that you have opened account and then when your neice is 18, hand over the details to her and her alone. She will then be able to spend the money on whatever she wants....which may not be what YOU want her to spend the money on!

MoneyMaLady

The bank haven't been negligent, she's broken trust rather than rules, she had the pass book for the account.

And unfortunately there are no statements showing my payments - the annual statement only shows the balance.

I could start paying into my own account for my niece but my sister has said she doesn't want anything from me ever again. Very easy to when you've already had nearly £2K!

Looks like I'll just have to get over it!

flea72

i would have thought, seeing as you set up the account, you would be the named holder, along with your niece. a child cant open an account in their own name, without an adult being aligned to it

which means the only way your sister could take the money out, is if she forged your signature, or you gave her the pin for the cashcard

F

MoneyMaLady

peachyprice wrote: »

For future payments to your niece you might want to consider an account like ... The money CANNOT be removed by anyone until the child is 18 years old, under any circumstances. This is where I put some money my Nan left to my children. It's really easy to administer, everything is done by post.

I'm sure other banks/building societies do something similar, at least you would know that the money was safe from your sister.

Thanks, that's really helpful. If I do patch up our relationship I will look into this

MoneyMaLady

flea72 wrote: »

i would have thought, seeing as you set up the account, you would be the named holder, along with your niece. a child cant open an account in their own name, without an adult being aligned to it

which means the only way your sister could take the money out, is if she forged your signature, or you gave her the pin for the cashcard

F

There is no card, it's all done at the post office with a passbook. Children under 7 can't access their own money but a child over 7 can with parental supervision.

It's my own stupid fault, I thought she could be trusted