Name added to an account?

Phaelok

Dear all,

I have been asked by my mother if I can have my name added to her santander savings account as, if anything happened to her, she would want to ensure this is passed on to me. She has explored the possibility of a will, but without going into detail, she does not want to give anything to either my brother or sister.

Personally I have 5 different savings account, all maxed out, and one already held with Santander.

If my name was added, would I be liable for tax for that account even though I will not be funding it with any money? Would my brother or sister be liable to claim anything from the account even though a will has not be drawn up?

Thanks

xylophone

In general, the rule is that those named on a joint account are joint tenants and that if one party dies, the other inherits by survivorship.

In general therefore, whether or not there is a will is irrelevant.

With regard to taxation see here http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/saimmanual/saim2420.htm

Regarding IHT, the position can be complex http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ihtmanual/ihtm15042.htm

http://www.barrettandco.co.uk/articles/2014/04/15/joint-account-pitfalls/

I remember a case on another forum where accounts had been put into joint names with one child and the other children raised a dispute after the death.

kidmugsy

Phaelok wrote: »

She has explored the possibility of a will, but without going into detail, she does not want to give anything to either my brother or sister.

If her capital is modest and she intends to have all of it in a joint account with you, that would avoid the money being shared with your siblings: on her death the money is automatically yours. But if she has more than that, then the way to stop your siblings inheriting some of it is to write a will. Within it, she might choose to explain why she was leaving them nothing, so that there can be no question of her forgetting their existence.

As for the Santander interest, I have a recollection that it needn't be split 50:50; someone will come along who has more certain knowledge than that.

UPDATE: xylophone is that "someone".

Playing_with_Fire_2

If she doesn't want to split assets equally between her children a will is the best way of doing that, the rules of intestacy have a preset formula for splitting assets when someone has no will.

[In my family recently a parent had a joint account with one of the three siblings (so that sibling could make payments on their behalf) and died without a will. Everything in the account went to the estate and was split three ways. This was what everyone thought would happen and no-one argued it, the siblings were the administrators. This was accepted by the officials, I don't know if something else would have been also okay.]