freezing a bank account

tilly4597

my dad died a few months ago, I am one of 6 siblings. We are all grown up and don't live at home. All but 1 of us are pretty close. The 6th one is 'golden boy' who can do no wrong in mothers eyes! Well he has done wrong! Mum and dad had a very rocky relationship. They had separate bank accounts and dad paid all the bills. To cut a long story short, whilst dad was dying in a nursing home my mother and golden boy started to filter money out of one of dads accounts. I had power of attorney for dads last few weeks of life and noticed daily amounts coming out of his account on one of his bank statements. Amounting to about £5000. I confronted my mum as with having POA I was liable for dads outgoings. She eventually confessed her and golden boy had opened a joint account and when taking money out of dads account the deposited it in their joint account. They opened the joint account in the same bank! So taking a daily £300 from the cash machine then going straight into branch and depositing it in their account! At present probate has not been granted as my brother has placed a caveat on the will. This has now been registered so is permanent whilst we all try and come to 'an agreement'. Is it possible that a solicitor could apply to have my mothers and brothers bank account frozen whilst this is investigated? I have a feeling a lot more than £5000 was taken. This was all from dads sole name bank account.

RAS

Other thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4935053

madbadrob

Technically what they have done is theft however the fact that they knew your fathers pin number this could fail and the onus would be on you to prove that it was stolen and that your late father hadnt said at some stage take what you want or when you need it. A solicitor could lodge a civil case where the rules regarding proof are less than criminal and he could apply to the court to have this account frozen pending the outcome of this civil action however this would be costly and far more than the amount you have mentioned.

Have you warned off the caveat? If so what reasons were stated for the caveat being in place? No yo dont have to come to an agreement although the courts would need to be shown that you had tried to come to an agreement.

I can tell you this gets expensive as I am dealing with an estate where this happened and solicitors fees so far ar £1600 + Vat.

Rob