help with bank account?

homealone_2

my mum has only a matter of weeks left`and is going into a hospice in the next couple of days. obviously she is anxious to get hers affairs sorted before this but i am not sure how best to advise her. at the moment she has a bank account with a cash card so that i was able to pay her bills and pay for her shopping etc. she wants this account to be used to give money to her gd1 when she graduates uni and gifts for christmas and other money to be given out then leaving what is left for me. i could have this transferred into my bank for ease but dont want it looking that i have suddenly come into this money as i am sure it would affect my housing benefit. but keeping it in an account in her name and withdrawing from it after she died would in one way seem like stealing. we have wracked our brains to find a better solution as she doesnt want it to cause me any headaches later. is there a better way around this other than giving it out to the people she wants it going to before it was intended. will be grateful for any advice

Torry_Quine

If you don't have power of attorney then that's the place to start as that will legally allow you to access her accounts and move money to suit her.

daska

The key question here is whether your mum has and is likely to retain the capacity to make her own decisions. If she does then you can draw up a PoA, there are free templates on-line but some banks may need them to be witnessed by a solicitor - which is possible to do even after she goes into the hospice, they will probably know a couple who are happy to do visiting appointments. Try ringing her bank to ask what they need.

If she still has capacity at the moment but won't, or already doesn't have capacity then you need to apply to the office of the public guardian for a lasting power of attorney and it's an expensive business.

Mojisola

I am a signatory on my father's account so I can sign cheques, etc, but don't have any ownership over the money. Very easily done at the bank.

Definitely look at POA. Does she have an up-to-date will?

homealone_2

Mojisola wrote: »

I am a signatory on my father's account so I can sign cheques, etc, but don't have any ownership over the money. Very easily done at the bank.

Definitely look at POA. Does she have an up-to-date will?

thanks this does sound like what she would like but how long after she has gone could i still operate the account. but as for the will that is a whole other can of worms. she has but not straight forward and she doesnt want to use it as the money she now has is nothing to do with her husband but her own personal monies that she has saved since he dies 5 years ago. plus the wording of it was never very clear. what it said was if he was to do everything was to go to my my mum and vice versa and if they both dies was to be split 3 ways between me and my 2 step brothers who we have no contact with and are 20 years old than me and as i said the money she has now is hers so now i have another thing to consider. she has gone into a hospice for a few days to test it out and it seems really bad timing to ask her about a will or money and as if that is all i am interested into what now???

daska

Actually, if she's raised the matter of the current a/c and wanting to ensure that this money goes to her GD then this is the perfect time to raise the other matters and get them dealt with all in one fell swoop.

I'm not entirely sure that I'm correct here but it sounds from what you say as if your step-father's Will left all his money in trust for the 3 of you but with his wife to have use of it until she passes.

If so, there's a good chance that the money from her husband's estate will have been 'loaned' to her by the Trustees and this will need paying back out of her estate when she passes. That loan will precedence over any other bequest that she wants to make. So if she really wants to give the cash to someone specific then she possibly ought to do it before she passes.

Assuming that there is anything left of her estate after paying funeral costs, debts and liabilities (incl the repayment of the loan from the Trust), she can write a new Will to leave specific bequests and/or the residual estate to anyone she chooses.

homealone_2

thanks i think it might be best to hunt out a copy of the will so that i can see the actual wording and get back to you

homealone_2

the will says i give all my property etc to my wife ..... absolutely but if my wife predeceases me i declare that clauses 2 and 3 shall have effect.
clause 2 i appoint .....myself and 2 step brothers "my trustees to be executors of my will
clause 3 i give devise and bequeath all my real and personal propery whatsoever and wheresoever not hereby or by any codicil hereto specifically disposed of (including any property over which I may have general power to postpone such sale calling in and coversation thereof for so long as they shall in their absolute discretion think fit without being liable for loss and to hold the proceeds of such sale calling in and conversation and my ready money (hereinafter called "my residuary estate") upon the following trusts.

Im sure it will say the same thing in my mums will but can't be sure.

Can anyone give me some advice.

Thanks

loubel

homealone wrote: »

the will says i give all my property etc to my wife ..... absolutely but if my wife predeceases me i declare that clauses 2 and 3 shall have effect.

So "all my property etc" was left to your mum. When she passes away her estate will be divided in accordance with her own Will. If she wants to leave specific gifts/sums of money to people after her death she will need to ensure that her Will is up to date.

If she wants you to be able to make these gifts on her behalf while she is in the hospice then she will need to grant you a power of attorney to do so. This would end on her death.

Pee

She needs to make a Will to avoid any potential problems. A LPA would have been a good idea, but sadly with it taking five months to register it may not be appropriate and certainly does not allow someone to deal with her estate. (It would allow someone to deal with her financial matters during her lifetime for her benefit.)

daska

Pee wrote: »

She needs to make a Will to avoid any potential problems. A LPA would have been a good idea, but sadly with it taking five months to register it may not be appropriate and certainly does not allow someone to deal with her estate. (It would allow someone to deal with her financial matters during her lifetime for her benefit.)

If she still has capacity an LPA wouldn't come into force anyway until she couldn't make her own decisions.

Really truly, if she still has her marbles, your best bet would be to talk with her about all this!

Take it from the starting point that she wants the money in her a/c to go to her grandchild and you want to help her achieve that given that the GD presumably isn't named in her Will?!

Her estate will have to cover her funeral expenses and all debts and liabilities - are any other savings that might cover those or is it only what's in the 'her' a/c? Is there still money from what her husband left her or was it in the form of property?

If she only has a few weeks to go then you being too embarrassed to say anything direct may result in her estate being distributed in a way that goes against her wishes - please don't let her down, you're the one who'll have to live with the regret.