Fraud?

CivicWalker_2

My Mother died 11 months ago without making a will. Even though my Sister lived with my Mother and therefore is more aware of her assets, she has steadfastly refused to let me view this information with a view to submitting a joint application for Letters of Administration. She has not replied to ongoing email & text requests for the last three months. Finally I have taken the hint and popped into her Bank this morning with her Death Certificate to discover that they were unaware of her death. I enquired about getting the Bank to issue a £215 cheque in order to cover the Probate application but they advised that no additional authorisation was required to close my mother's account. I insisted in opening a new deposit account to hold the £6525 as my sister is obviously entitled to 50%. However on the statement of account which they handed me, I noticed that SIX x £500 ATM cash withdrawls had been made from the account in the 19 days covered by the statement but none after her death. My Mother was in hospital during this period as secondary cancer had spread to her scull and she did not even recognise me (advanced dementia type symptoms). As my Sister is refusing to discuss my mother's estate what do I need to do regarding the £3000? I have still submitted an application for Letters of Administration as I presume that I can then ask searching questions?

Yorkshireman99

Clearly if you sister did not have authority to withdraw the money it is theft. What other assets are there such a house or other belongings? Thes3e, if any, will need to be added to the value of the estate. It would be easy to deduct the smount apparently stolen from her share.

CivicWalker_2

Appreciated Yorkshireman99. House was subject to joint tenancy agreement drawn up by a solicitor without my knowledge in 2008 meaning that ownership automatically passed to my sister on the death of my mother. I have now discovered £7000 worth of ATMs in the three months prior to her death so could get even worse. What I suspect will happen is that a £6000+ funeral invoice will be played wiping out the remnants of her estate. Exactly why my 83 year old mother would suddenly start requiring almost £600 per week to live on in NHS hospital remains a mystery to me.

Yorkshireman99

CivicWalker wrote: »

Appreciated Yorkshireman99. House was subject to joint tenancy agreement drawn up by a solicitor without my knowledge in 2008 meaning that ownership automatically passed to my sister on the death of my mother. I have now discovered £7000 worth of ATMs in the three months prior to her death so could get even worse. What I suspect will happen is that a £6000+ funeral invoice will be played wiping out the remnants of her estate. Exactly why my 83 year old mother would suddenly start requiring almost £600 per week to live on in NHS hospital remains a mystery to me.

Who arranged the funeral? They have to pay but might be able to claim back from the estate. As I see it deducting all the ATM withdrawals could still be possible if she paid for it. You might consider going to the police. If you do don't be fobbed off with them saying "It is a civil matter" as it is a criminal offence.

Keep_pedalling

There is nothing you can do about the house, but it does rather sound like your sister has stolen the cash, and what money is left is required to pay the funeralal director, unless your sister organised it in which case she is fully responsible for paying it.

As the estate administrator you need to challenge her on this. Tell her that she must return the money to the estate or you will have to go to tt go to the police and report it as stolen.

civicwalker

It gets worse as the balance in my mother's account as at 31st December 2015 was £18,059.23. However 34 x £500 ATM cash withdrawals made in 2016 (i.e. an average of £500 per week)! Lloyds appear very disinterested as mother could have revealed PIN and fraudster withdraws every single day apparently!

CivicWalker_2

Pending the award of Letters of Administration (and in the ongoing absence of any co-operation from my Sister who lived with my Mother together with my three young nieces) the only remaining assets I have so far been able to identify and secure in a newly opened 'estate holding account' is £6525.13. Ownership of the 'family' home has automatically passed to my Sister under the terms of a Joint Tenancy agreement drawn up by a Solicitor in 2008; this was only reluctantly revealed to me in January 2016. Not sure if there is any value of obtaining statements relating to 2015 in order to determine (hopefully!) what my Mother's normal spending pattern was?

Confused31

Watching this with interest as we are going through same thing with my late aunt who died intestate and bank statements have revealed her next of kin was helping themselves to everything in her account for the last six years . Our dealings with the bank so far they have refused to make any comment on the activity of her account .

Sea_Shell

So sad to hear your stories. It's always a worry that at some point in life you have to trust someone (usually family) with your money, and this is how they can end up repaying you.

These people, who probably wouldn't dream of committing a robbery against Joe Bloggs, are quite happy to steal from family, usually though some skewed feeling of "entitlement".

Margot123

I had a similar situation whereby my brother and his kids were helping themselves to my Mum's money at the ATM; thankfully we found out before she passed away, and they did 'a runner'. Sometimes there would be withdrawals at 11.59pm followed by another at 12.01am, making it two days worth, if you follow me. The Bank were very helpful and even provided evidence, however, due to proportionality ie her having a hefty balance, they said the police seldom take action. If Mum's account had been wiped out, then they would have done. Not sure they would do anything without the account holder being present. A very sad situation to be in.

CivicWalker_2

I now have some doubt as to whether or not the signature on the 2008 Tenancy Agreement is my late Father's (died August 2012) as his middle initial is not included and I am almost certain he always used it when signing. However as I do not have access to any of his documents is there anyway of obtaining a copy of his signature from somewhere. Passport is the only thing I have thought of so far (but if it still exists, my Sister will not release it); he didn't drive; Banks I presume would claim confidentiality?