Opening Account in parents names

ladybelle

Apologies if this is the wrong thread - but not sure where to put it. It certainly is about a bank account !!

My parents are both going into a Nursing home next week. My mother had a stroke 5 weeks ago, but regained enough capacity to sign a lasting power of attorney form, but that can take up to 11 weeks even if it's classed as perfect ! could be even longer if any mistakes. My Dad is unable to walk and has many health issues himself.

Social Services have agreed to funding until the house is sold, but for now I need to get all the pension paid into a new account which I was hoping to open in Lloyds so I can access it and control it as I am the representation and the County Council will be billing me apparently to pay these bills !!

Question 1 is can I open a bank account in their names without them being there ?
2. Can I do it without the power of attorney at the moment ?
3. If not, can I just open a bank account in my name and arrange to have the pensions paid into this account ? Can you have a pension paid to someone else's bank account ? or only to a bank account of the same name ?
4. Without power of attorney, how can I get the pensions changed ? It's two state pensions and 1 civil service pension.

I havent contacted Mum's bank yet because I was afraid they might freeze it and while Dad was living at home, all the bills were paid by direct debit from this account. The account has just ticked over and I had planned to just leave it alone for now until the power of attorney came through.

However, now this care home move has happened faster than we thought, I dont know how I can bring this all together and have all the money in the same account to pay Social services the money they want !
And if I cant do anything about her civil service pension I cant pay much anyway !!
Any advice anyone can give I'd be very grateful !!

Torry_Quine

1 You can open a bank account without them being present if you have power of attorney
2 No you have to wait until you have poa
3 If you are their appointed representative then this may be possible, contact DWP for help.
4 without poa there is very little you can do

ladybelle

I dont need Dad's really as he can sign anything and talk on the phone, but he isnt able to get into town ? so can I open a single account and then once I have Mum's POA turn it into a joint account ?

missile

Sorry to hear about your parents.

If you are prepared to break the rules, you can open an account online with LTSB. I would suggest you open one for each parent.

Where are pensions being paid into at present? You will need to write to pension providers to ask them to re-direct. You can download form from LTSB.

Your mum already has a bank account, can you set up online banking on that?
Why should bills be addressed to you?

CLAPTON

why can't their existing bank a/cs suffice for their needs?
what specific facility do you/they need that the existing a/cs lack?

ladybelle

Dad doesnt even have a bank account, he simply has a post office account his state pension goes into. This is all the income he has.

As they are going into care home next week I have been told I will be billed - and it is MY responsbility to send a cheque to Social Services for their pension contribution. I was under the impression that the pensions just stopped and they would sort that and take it direct from DWP but no apparently I have to !
So to avoid cashing two cards at post office and paying it into my account and sending a cheque from there I need a joint account that both their pensions go into.

As it is - her main civil service pension goes into her account and I dont think I can touch that til I have POA.

However I went into my bank today and they couldnt have been more helpful.

We are going to attempt to just open an account physically - he is going to come with me to the home, all free of charge !! and meet them and get them to sign the forms and then all being well open an account. Problem still comes in Dad has a debt in his name so that might cause a problem ! but if not we can hopefully get a new one in Mum's name then also try and switch her other one. But the problem there is that her sig is very different since her stroke so HSBC may block it, but once I get POA I can do that, but in the meantime there's still worry and doubt !

I have to get hold of all the pensions to pay social services but if I cant get the civil service one they will have to wait as I dont have any money to pay them !

ladybelle

missile wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your parents.

If you are prepared to break the rules, you can open an account online with LTSB. I would suggest you open one for each parent.

Where are pensions being paid into at present? You will need to write to pension providers to ask them to re-direct. You can download form from LTSB.

Your mum already has a bank account, can you set up online banking on that?
Why should bills be addressed to you?

Apparently I have automatially become their representative ! and all bills are sent to the family to sort out and pay !! They are not capable of doing anything hence why they are going in a nursing home. But I just assumed that Social services did it all, and took their pensions direct.

Torry_Quine

Usually what happens is that the fees are due directly to the home concerned from the residents bank account by direct debit or standing order.

When you have power of attorney then you will be able to set up for these payments to the home. They will still get their pensions paid as normal and social services will let you know what they are due to pay. Also they will no longer be entitled to AA if the local authority are paying for them.

fluffig

Only to add that, if you encounter any problems, you may find it useful also to post in the Over 50's Moneysaving forum. There are lots of posters there with experience of poa, social services, care fees etc.

pinkdalek

Sorry to hear about your parents, I come across many scenarios like this and it's frustrating.

Unfortunately you would not at the moment be able to open an account for your parents in a branch unless you had the POA documents.

Like it was suggested though applying online is an option, yes you may be breaking the law at the moment, however is it really going to come to light especially with the POA process already under way?

If you should manage to get the accounts opened ask Lloyds about "3rd Party Access" or "Access to an account on someone's behalf" They have a form you can use whereby you can do basic transactions on accounts, you could maybe set this up until the POA comes through? It's worth asking them about it.