Managing Mum's assets

thestens

My mum, who is 89, is finding it impossible to manage her financial assets, which amount to about £200 000 in various accounts. My husband and I have been moving the money around to get the best rates of interest but this is difficult as (rightly) the companies won't discuss my mum's accounts with me over the phone. My mum is very deaf and finds it hard to understand their questions herself. I was wondering if we got her to open future accounts as joint ones with me whether then I would be able to sort things out more easily??

missile

Could you manage her assets online?

You might want to consider power of attorney?

dzug1

The best course of action is to get her to make you her Attorney - ie get a Lasting Power of Attorney. That way you have the right to run her accounts - consulting her as necessary.

Joint accounts are superficially attractive - but can often lead to problems over tax and (if there are other relatives) inheritance

Savvy_Sue

Definitely a case for Power of Attorney, or in some cases you can be an agent or co-signatory on an account without actually 'owning' the money. And that can indeed cause problems with tax, inheritance AND benefits, should that ever be relevant.

thestens, you don't say why your mum is finding it impossible to manage her assets. OK, she's deaf, so can't use the phone, but all financial institutions should be geared up to other ways of communication, or there's Text Relay - and with £200,000 in the bank she should be able to afford a textphone. But if it's a 'capacity' thing, in that she's no long capable (or wanting to be capable) of dealing with the finances, then PofA is the way to go.

Pollycat

Re Lasting Power of Attorney - I've recently been doing some research as my Mum is 80 (although still pretty smart).

It appears there are 2 sorts:
Property & Financial Affairs
Health and Welfare

You can request either or both of the forms online through the Directgov website.
https://forms.direct.gov.uk/forms/form/777/en/opg-lasting_power_of_attorney_lpa

Our forms came complete with guidance booklets within a week.

Savvy_Sue

Thanks Polly, I was thinking I should put some links for PofA ...

thestens

Thank you. It's really that she doesn't want to be capable any more , I think, but probably actually isn't either! Hard to tell, sometimes. Will have to consider P of O - hadn't thought of the tax implications of joint accounts.

agrinnall

Getting a LPA is a very good move, I would recommend both financial and welfare ones, should your mum suddenly become ill and unable to make her own decisions this will make your life a great deal easier, and possibly hers a lot more comfortable. In addition to the link pollycat gave there is information on the Office of the Public Guardian site here:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/forms/opg