Question re stealing money from account after death?

baza52

like I said before, Wifes mums partner drew money out and neither the police or Santander were interested.

jamesd

Then I hope that she complained to Santander then if they continued to refuse, took it to the FOS.

Aquamania

weemck85 wrote: »

Hello everyone,

This is a bit of a mess. Basically, my mum and dad split up a few years ago, although never divorced or were 'legally separated.' My dad has been with a new partner ever since. Sadly, my dad died quite recently and my mum and I have been trying to sort through his bank accounts etc. Further to this, my mum is the executor of his estate.

Today, we went into his bank, and found out that the day he died, his new partner withdrew £300 from an ATM using his bank card. The next day, she withdrew another £300 from an ATM again using his bank card, then somehow has managed to create a faster payment transfer from his account to hers for just under £3500. The bank account in question is a joint account of my mums and dads although my mum hasn't used it in years. This other woman has no authorisation on the account at all. How she had the pin numbers/online account access is a mystery but the only thing going for us is that all monies were taken after my dad had died.

The bank are saying they will pass it to their fraud team to investigate and we should hear back shortly, but can anyone tell me the odds of re-couping all of the money? The bank is Santander and various google searches have shown that they're not great at returning money. But surely my dad has been the victim of identity fraud and as such the bank have been defrauded?

I'm absolutely disgusted and sick to the stomach. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

I think you are too emotionally involved to worry about this. You should leave it up to the executor.

Who appointed your mum as executor, especially when she was
'legally separated' from your late father? Was it a wish of your late father in his will? Even if it was, she could always refuse to act as executor.

As soon as the bank were properly informed of the death of your late father, his (sole) accounts would have been blocked.
Why was there a delay in informing the bank?

Hope it wasn't your mum's fault as any losses as a result could be down to her personally.

Steve_xx

Aquamania wrote: »

I think you are too emotionally involved to worry about this. You should leave it up to the executor.

Who appointed your mum as executor, especially when she was
'legally separated' from your late father? Was it a wish of your late father in his will? Even if it was, she could always refuse to act as executor.

As soon as the bank were properly informed of the death of your late father, his (sole) accounts would have been blocked.
Why was there a delay in informing the bank?

Hope it wasn't your mum's fault as any losses as a result could be down to her personally.

You are reading all sorts of things into this that are not a part of the original posters request for guidance.


It is not for people here to get involved in the whys and wherefores of who is appointed an executor to the will.


The bank may not have blocked the account due to the fathers death since the mother, who is joint account holder, is still alive.


I don't believe that the poster said that the parents were "legally separated", and even if they were it would not alter the position of the joint account. People who have joint bank accounts do not have to be partners.


The facts are plain and simple, ie a theft has occurred from the surviving account holder and the remedy for that is enshrined in statutory law.

Aquamania

Steve_xx wrote: »

You are reading all sorts of things into this that are not a part of the original posters request for guidance.


It is not for people here to get involved in the whys and wherefores of who is appointed an executor to the will.


The bank may not have blocked the account due to the fathers death since the mother, who is joint account holder, is still alive.


I don't believe that the poster said that the parents were "legally separated", and even if they were it would not alter the position of the joint account. People who have joint bank accounts do not have to be partners.


The facts are plain and simple, ie a theft has occurred from the surviving account holder and the remedy for that is enshrined in statutory law.

Well that told me , didn't it? :cool:

Sorry, I misinterpreted what the OP wrote. You are correct that there was indeed no suggestion that the OP's mother and father were ever 'legally separated'

However, the other comments wrote still stand.
As the account was a joint account (despite the mother not having accessed it for years) rather than a sole account, then the account would not have been closed but transferred into the sole name of the surviving spouse ... if the bank had been told.

This would have presumably prevented this other woman (the OP's late father's partner) from accessing the account.

So the questions still remain.

Why was there a delay in advising the bank of the death of this person?
How was the estranged wife/mother of the OP appointed as executor of the estate?
In the circumstances, is she acting as executor in the best interests of all concerned?

I'll leave it for the OP to answer those questions, if you don't mind

Mojisola

weemck85 wrote: »

the day he died, his new partner withdrew £300 from an ATM using his bank card.

The next day, she withdrew another £300 from an ATM again using his bank card, then somehow has managed to create a faster payment transfer from his account to hers for just under £3500.

Aquamania wrote: »

So the questions still remain.

Why was there a delay in advising the bank of the death of this person?

I don't know what other people do but I didn't contact the bank on the day my Dad died, nor the following day. Contacting relatives and friends and just coping with the death was all I could deal with.

Steve_xx

Aquamania wrote: »

However, the other comments wrote still stand.
As the account was a joint account (despite the mother not having accessed it for years) rather than a sole account, then the account would not have been closed but transferred into the sole name of the surviving spouse ... if the bank had been told.

This would have presumably prevented this other woman (the OP's late father's partner) from accessing the account.

So the questions still remain.

Why was there a delay in advising the bank of the death of this person?
How was the estranged wife/mother of the OP appointed as executor of the estate?
In the circumstances, is she acting as executor in the best interests of all concerned?

I'll leave it for the OP to answer those questions, if you don't mind

No, the other points you make don't stand at all. There was no need to transfer the account anywhere or to anyone because there is a surviving account holder still on it.


It's not your business to understand why or who was appointed as executor as it makes no difference to the problem of theft. Why are you obsessed with the executors?


The delay in advising the bank, if there was one, of the fathers death does not imply that a third party who is not one of the joint account holders can take money from that account. At the moment of death any estate of the deceased person becomes part of their estate and the executor is posessor of that estate until the will is discharged.


A theft has occurred pure and simple.

weemck85

Mojisola wrote: »

I don't know what other people do but I didn't contact the bank on the day my Dad died, nor the following day. Contacting relatives and friends and just coping with the death was all I could deal with.

The above is spot on. I had no authorisation to go into Santander and close the account myself. My mother had to go with me. My dads funeral was last Friday and she wanted that out the way first. We duly went into the bank first thing on the Monday morning 3 days later.

Regarding my mum being the executor, this was put in place many years before they split up and neither (for reasons best known to themselves) was never altered despite their break up.

We went to the police yesterday and they have taken the case on. They went to speak with the other woman who claimed that my father had given her permission (although he is obviously no longer here to confirm nor deny) and she stated she did not know it was a joint account (which wouldn't have mattered anyway because it still wouldn't have been hers to take). Although this is apparently clearly marked at the top of the online banking page upon login. She offered to come to some arrangement to pay it back in instalments, which would suggest she's blown 4k in the 2 weeks since my dads death - bearing in mind she has paid nothing towards his funeral or any other expenses for that matter - further backs up my previous statement that it speaks volumes of the kind of woman we are dealing with. My mum refused that as obviously that would become a civil matter involving drawing up contracts etc which is going to come at a cost to my mum. Surely if it was a genuine error she would have written a cheque on the spot and paid it back?? However, the police have now raised a crime report for a theft and are investigating the withdrawals from the ATM's only. They advised that Santander fraud team wish to take on the larger transaction via the online billing as they can trace ISP's etc a lot easier and quicker than the police can.

Either way it is all being investigated and I thank those of you who contributed good advice, it certainly helped us feel more prepared going to the police.

Fingers crossed it all comes to a satisfactory ending.

Steve_xx

Pleased to hear that some useful progress has been made. Do let us know what progress you make and I hope that there will be a good outcome for yourself and mum.

Chrisblue1962

Good Luck weemck85, I hope that this matter is resolved promptly and fairly so that you and your mother can move on from what I can imgine is a very distressing episode in your lives.