Trustee of money for a minor help please?

su51bfc

Hi..my mum died 5 years ago and left all her estate £20,000 or so to my sons in trust with the solicitors as the trustees and executors. The DWP apparently claimed back a large amount and I was told that I was not privy to this information. The upshot was that there was about £8000 left for my two boys. Tragically, one of my sons died and so all is left to my surviving son who is now 14. The money is in trust until he is 18. I have had notification that the trustees are 'retiring' and that I and his godmother can now act as trustees and we need to find where we can invest the money. The money is now £6,800 after fees. I am going to ask for the estate accounts as the solicitors have stated that I am in receipt of them but I have heard nothing until now. The whole process has been at the back of my mind after the death of my son until now. My question is a) can I find out why the DWP took this money back? and b) how and where can I get good advice about where to place this remaining money for my surviving son's future? Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this..

xylophone

Does your child have a CTF?

https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds/overview

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/news/how-to-transfer-a-ctf-to-a-jisa/0085961/

If so, it would be possible to credit the CTF with £4080, transfer the CTF to JISA and contribute the balance of the cash into the JISA immediately.

See post 3 https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/70479762#Comment_70479762

The funds would become available to your son at 18.

If he is likely to need the money as soon he becomes 18, the cash option would perhaps be advisable - if you as the adult contact have (or are willing to open) an ISA with the Halifax, a rate of 4% would be possible.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/junior-isa

If he does not have a CTF, you could open a JISA with £4080, deposit the balance in a child account which you would hold in bare trust (the Nationwide Limited Access Smart account might suit), then transfer the money from the Smart Account to the JISA at the beginning of the 2017-2018 tax year.

With regard to why the DWP demanded a payment from your late mother's estate, is it possible that she was overpaid state pension/pension credit/other benefits?