Can I open a joint account with my adult daughter?

brianpals

Can I open a joint account with my adult daughter?

I would like to be able to put a few thousand pounds into a joint account with my daughter so that she would have ready access to money on my death instead of having to wait until my estate has been sorted out.

Is this feasible?

CLAPTON

yes, many people do this for various reasons

mulronie

Yes, you can open an account jointly with anyone you want, provided of course your bank is willing

oldvicar

Yes. If you don't want her to have access to your money before your death make it an account where both of you need to give withdrawal instructions ('two signatures required')

If you want her to be able to take your money before you die then make it so that either of you can give withdrawal instructions.

xylophone

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/saimmanual/saim2420.htm
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/how-to-value-estate/joint-property.htm

missile

Would it not be simpler to grant her access to all of your accounts via online banking?

If you do not want her to have access now, utilise a to be opened on event of my death envelope. Obviously this is not in accordance with bank T&Cs but would you be worried .........

I am assuming you have a will?

brianpals

Thanks to you all for your very quick responses.

I'm off to my voluntary work soon so I'll have to check them all out better later.

However, in quick reply to some of you and to enlighten you further:

• I do have a will
• Wouldn't giving my daugher access to my current online accounts after my death be negated by all accounts being frozen until my estate has been sorted (counted)?
• I don't really feel a need to give her access to my account before my death.
• This daughter is the older of two, but more local and subsequently in a better position to get me incinerated :-)
• Do you know the best bank accounts for this (we both have full ISAs)?

Thanks once again

Brian

calypso_rhapsody

I'd have thought an instant access savings account would be the ideal choice - or maybe a Lloyds Vantage or Halifax Reward current account if you can be bothered to do the money moving (not that difficult if you use SOs) to earn the higher interest/£5pm reward.

Probably looking for a good instant access account without a bonus would the best idea as you probably don't want to be having to move the money every year? Look of the savings pages here or on other comparison sites ....

Frozen_up_north

brianpals wrote: »

I would like to be able to put a few thousand pounds into a joint account with my daughter so that she would have ready access to money on my death instead of having to wait until my estate has been sorted out.

Brian you don't say why you want her to have ready access. If it is to pay for funeral expenses, then (a) an undertaker will not pester her for quick payment and (b) many banks will pay funeral expenses on presentation of an invoice without waiting for probate.

Also some pension funds have a facility to pay out a lump sum fairly quickly to partly cover such costs.

Why not simply give her a lump sum? Beware of tax issues though...

Biggles

If you make it a joint account, the funds will become hers after your death and not form part of your estate. Would that not disadvantage her sister?

As stated above, there will not normally be any problem obtaining funds to pay funeral expenses in advance of probate.

inflationiscoming

my dad gave me access to one of his existing HSBC accounts this week. The form we filled in allowed mix and match of various options, signing cheques, telephone banking and use of bank card and pin. No need for a new account.