Pre pay funerals

MrsE_2

jay1181 wrote: »

hi as i said in another post on here we have just went through this with my grandmother. We had to have power of attorney to buy the plan for her as she would have had to sign for it. but if your mother is not of sound mind at this stage them you will not be able to do the easy route of getting power of attorney due to her having dementia. You would have to go thru the courts a long and expensive affair belive me. English law may be different though as we live in scotland.
I wish you luck and hope it all turns out how you hoped but if your mother has money in other peoples accounts and you/her havent declared it for benifit purposes when the time comes the money would go to whoevers name is on the account and not to or bothers sisters ect and if dwp find out they will claim ALL the money overpaid to your mum back thru her estate eg money in other accounts houses saving polices ect ect please dont learn the hard way and get this sorted BEFORE it all goes pairshaped.

This is NOTHING to do with benefit fraud. My elder sister put a lump sum (at my mothers request) into her account, so there was burial money. This was done because a younger sister had been taking mums money (both by stealing & just because mum would give little sister every penny, so turned a blind eye to the theft). Nothing to do with benefit fraud. Its only a few thousand.

MrsE_2

hcb42 wrote: »

sorry about your situation, although equally I am not sure what you are trying to achieve by buying this prepayment scheme at this time, if you have the money anyway.

I have arranged both my parents funerals over the last 2-3 years and the costs were about £2.5K including cars and basic catering in pub etc afterwards. (they had policies which they paid monthly for, so obviously spreading the cost, but buying in a lump sum, when you have the money, and don't have POA won't really benefit you anyway really. )

I know she has/had a will, I think it may even be in Ireland. I don't know. AFAIK it said to split 3 ways whatever is left.
If I used the bank money it would use most of it. The money my elder sister has can just be split (when the time comes) & we won't need to track down a will & pay lots of sols fees for a few thousand pounds.
The funeral director wouldn't have to wait for their money either, while it was sorted.

Biggles

Remember I said it could go pearshaped?

There's a thread elsewhere on the forum https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3236080 where it was amicably agreed that a sister 'held onto' a large sum of money but, after their parent's death, reneged on their agreement.

moonrakerz

Why do I get the feeling that there is a lot more to this than meets the eye ????

hcb42

MrsE wrote: »

I know she has/had a will, I think it may even be in Ireland. I don't know. AFAIK it said to split 3 ways whatever is left.
If I used the bank money it would use most of it. The money my elder sister has can just be split (when the time comes) & we won't need to track down a will & pay lots of sols fees for a few thousand pounds.
The funeral director wouldn't have to wait for their money either, while it was sorted.

I hope, like most reasonable families, no one will screw another over here...and threre is no reason to suggest that will happen (see other threads on here for where it might!!)

My mum left a basic "will" in her eyes, which was a piece of paper, not signed or witnessed, simply stating in her death she wanted her estate dividing between her daughters. As her husband, (my father) was still alive at the time, I simply replaced it where I found it and never told anyone , including my father - that I had even seen it - (not that I think it would have mattered anyway) I know what she meant and she was trying to protect her family as she would not have been clear on inheritance rules, I dont think - but if it had been followed through to the letter then my father would have been homeless and penniless, which was clearly not the intention!

MrsE_2

moonrakerz wrote: »

Why do I get the feeling that there is a lot more to this than meets the eye ????

Thats a horrible thing to say.

There is no attempt a fraud, my mum asked my elder sister to take charge of a few thousand for her so her burial money was safe. I hold my mothers bank card to pay her care home fees, to buy her any bits SHE needs, clothing, etc. She can't go out & buy her own stuff, she has never used the internet & has never had access to it. In the past few months she has gone downhill rapidly & I was wondering if it would be sensible to buy a funeral plan as I'm sure she won't need her couple of thousand for anything else. Then when she does pass away we wouldn't need to pay a lawyer to sort out probate (which I have no idea how works or how much costs), there are no other people to consider, just three grown up daughters & I have NO worries at all, that my elder sister would attempt to steal any of the money she holds anymore than I would touch one penny of the couple of thousand in the bank account to which I have access to.

Mojisola

MrsE wrote: »

My mother has less than 10k to her name.
5k in an account of my elder sisters & 4k in her current account (which I have a card to).

MrsE wrote: »

There is no attempt a fraud, my mum asked my elder sister to take charge of a few thousand for her so her burial money was safe. I hold my mothers bank card to pay her care home fees, to buy her any bits SHE needs, clothing, etc.

In the past few months she has gone downhill rapidly & I was wondering if it would be sensible to buy a funeral plan as I'm sure she won't need her couple of thousand for anything else. Then when she does pass away we wouldn't need to pay a lawyer to sort out probate (which I have no idea how works or how much costs), there are no other people to consider, just three grown up daughters & I have NO worries at all, that my elder sister would attempt to steal any of the money she holds anymore than I would touch one penny of the couple of thousand in the bank account to which I have access to.

As the only money actually in your Mum's name is 4k in the account you are managing, you won't even have to go to probate - https://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/Preparation/DG_10029468

I hope you can sort it out between you. There have been some disturbing stories on here about the unexpected way family members have behaved after a bereavement.

moonrakerz

MrsE wrote: »

Thats a horrible thing to say.

It is not "horrible".

It is a perfectly reasonable observation - she does not have a great deal of money - why spend it now on something, that to be blunt, is of no benefit to your mother ??
There is no logic in this - if there is, it certainly hasn't been explained.

MrsE_2

moonrakerz wrote: »

It is not "horrible".

It is a perfectly reasonable observation - she does not have a great deal of money - why spend it now on something, that to be blunt, is of no benefit to your mother ??
There is no logic in this - if there is, it certainly hasn't been explained.

I don't need to explain it.

I asked for peoples opinions of pre-pay funerals as a product.

Not a lecture on fraud.

MrsE_2

Mojisola wrote: »

As the only money actually in your Mum's name is 4k in the account you are managing, you won't even have to go to probate - www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/Preparation/DG_10029468

I hope you can sort it out between you. There have been some disturbing stories on here about the unexpected way family members have behaved after a bereavement.

The only thing I was looking to avoid was legal bills/fees for the admin of a few thousand pounds.

Thank you for the link.