grandparent keeping child's money

istanbul09

Hi All,

First post and a difficult one.My mother opened accounts with a Building Society for each of my children at birth who are now respectively 18 and 25.Due to a family fall out she refuses to give them the money.Any ideas how they can get it and how we can check whether the accounts are still live.

thanks

Kayalana99

Are the accounts actally in the childs name? They should be able to walk in bank with thier ID and close it/withdraw it assuming its not a 21 year trust.
If its in your mothers name then its her money and nothing you can do.

pollypenny

If the accounts are in her name, I don't think you stand a chance.

At what age did she intend to give the children 'their' money? 25 is pretty grown-up, or should be.

Sommer43

There is no way you can find if these accounts are still active and live. If your mother set them up, then likely in her name and there is no law which states she has to give them the money, despite her initial intentions. It is a gift and up to her whether she donates the gift to the benefactor. This may be a bitter pill to swallow, but your children have no legal recourse to this money unless your mother hands it over to them.

KiKi

Did she put all the money in there? If it's in her name then you have no chance of getting it back.

If others put money in, then morally she should hand that over - but again, if it's in her name, I don't see how you can enforce it.

If it's their name, they should be able to go to the bank with a passport and another form of ID and take the money out.

Nada666

Is one of the grandchildren named Butterballs, by any chance?

marisco_2

Was the family fall out between your mother and your children? If so then maybe she feels for whatever reason that they are not mature enough yet to recieve the money. In all fairness she may have a point. You know them all best of course and can judge that for yourself.

If the fall out had nothing to do with them, then it seems odd that a grandmother would embroil them in the discord, effectively punishing them for something they are not part of.

Dont add fuel to the fire. Yes it is a shame that your mother is choosing to do this. There is little you can do about it though. I would leave things be and see if she has a change of heart when the dust settles a bit.

istanbul09

thanks for quick response.Don't know much detail about the accounts I am afraid.What I was hoping to do was to approach the building society and check whether they have any records of the accounts in my mother's name and/or the name of the children because i thought that this may show whether she was just a trustee.She says now that the money is in her account now so I assume it must have been in a children's account at one time.

Just need some clear thinking and help please.

ta

Kayalana99

Hmm maybe someone abit more legal savvy can answar this but if the money has been taken out of an account that wasnt her name (even tho she was the only one paying into it) is that legal? If she was a trustee would the money still be the childs?

The building society wouldn't give you any information about your mother but if you took the children in with thier ID they would be able to see if they had any accounts on file - and if they did provide bank statements and information.

BitterAndTwisted

She may have opened accounts for her grandchildren but not in the children's names. If she did this you will have absolutely no recourse. But what you will not be able do is get any information from the bank about what accounts she had that were in her name only. They will not tell you as it's none of your business, or anyone else's

[Deleted User]

Hi,

maybe your mother is finding things a bit hard for herself nowadays and is needing the money, thinking the kids are doing ok for themselves and will manage for now.