Can I protect my inheritance?

milady_2

Hi
I'm considering bankruptcy, and the main thing stopping me is that I don't want my possible inheritance to be used to settle my debts if my father should pass away during the undischarged period.
My father has limited mental capacity, and myself and my sister have joint Power of Attorney over his financial affairs.
When I spoke to an insolvency company they said I should (and could) arrange for a solicitor to change may father's will to exclude me. Is this possible? And if so is it legal?
My sister is happy to honour the spirit of the original will regardless of the paperwork in the event of our father's death.
I know I cannot remain as an Attorney as an undischarged bankrupt, but could replace myself with my son, who's 19.
Many thanks for your views.
Milady

freddy911

Yes totally legal its your fathers money not yours so just having his will changed to exclude you is not going to get you in trouble.

curly04

you can, but you have to trust your sister.

sorry to sound awful i know some people wont

Good luck, and i wish your family well x

debtinfo

Not an expert on wills but the possible trouble i see here, is that you are almost certainly insolvent already. Now if your father wanted to change his will then thats not a problem at all. But the OR may have a problem that you with your power of attorney have changed it. The obvious conclusion being that this could be interpreted as your wishes to avoid paying creditors rather than your fathers wishes

milady_2

Hi
Thanks to everyone for the comments-very helpful. I think I'll consult the solicitors who dealt with Dad's POA.
Also, I was thinking that in the unfortunate event of Dad passing away before my BR I would use my inheritance to pay my creditors anyway. So i might just risk the 12 months undischarged period, given Dad is fine at the moment.
But I'll consult the Sols anyway.
Thanks again. I always get lots of support and encouragement from this board.
Milady
PS - whenever I type the word 'undischarged' my laptop wants to change it to 'undies charged'! Makes you think... :rotfl:

localhero

If your father wants a share of his estate to go to you rather than your creditors then he would be advised to amend his Will.

But he should not leave your share to your sister, there are too many things that can go wrong with that.

Instead, he should leave your share to a discretionary trust with you and others as potential beneficiaries. If he should die at an inopportune time his trustees can simply distribute from the trust when it is appropriate to do so.