Kids account-Grandparents donation-legal question

bowf

My father-in-law is,sadly,in a bad way and has been told he has little time left ( anything between 3 and 12 months ). :-[
He wants to give his two grandaughters around £6000 each to set up accounts.
We set up A+L first saver accounts and everything was looking fine.
However,a solicitor has 'suggested' that the gifts be put on hold as he may have to go into a home for his remaining time and the gifts could be construed by the council as a deliberate attempt to 'rid' himself of money to avoid paying for the home !
There is no intention of that at all !
He has the means to pay for a home regardless of these gifts.
The poor bloke is shocked that his grandkids may not 'be allowed' to get any of his money until he dies.
He wants to give them the money while he's here to see it being done.
Not much to ask is it....

Anyone any suggestions ??

dunstonh

Make the gifts.

The solicitor is being over cautious. If these have no impact on the means to pay for nursing home then there is no point in holding back.

If inheritance tax is a possibility, then he could consider using his gift allowances each tax year from now on, which is £3000 per year. If IHT is unlikely, then he can gift what he likes as long as it has no impact on his ability to pay for nursing.