Financial irregularities prior to death -will help

Miles16v

Imagine a scenario……

An elderly gentleman dies aged 90. He has two executors to his will, a son and a daughter.

Upon his death the son is surprised to see how little money remains in his fathers savings account.

Upon analysing the transactions, tens of thousands of pounds have been withdrawn over the previous two years, emptying the bank account of his life savings, with further withdrawals happening systematically as pension income comes in. The withdrawals are made by a third child who is not an executor nor has power of attorney.

The third child claims that the deceased gave her permission to withdraw the money and wanted her to have it.

The deceased, who’s mental and physical health declined progressively during those two years, having regular admissions into hospital could probably be judged to have a relatively sound mind towards the start but not the end of those two years. He was bed bound, his vision would not have allowed him to read bank statements.

The gentleman only died around 2 weeks ago.

No one knows whether his wishes for her to have the money are true, but on the face of it, given that there are four children, it seems unlikely.

What steps could, or should be taken by the executors of the will?

Thanks for any advice.

Ganga

What does the will say? was there set amounts of money to be paid to the other children,has the third child had a history of being deceitfull/untrustworthy etc.

Miles16v

The will is based on proportions not absolute values.

Anecdotally they do have just that reputation. Claims The money was needed to repay debt.

Yorkshireman99

How were the withdrawals made?

dresdendave

Miles16v wrote: »

The will is based on proportions not absolute values.

Anecdotally they do have just that reputation. Claims The money was needed to repay debt.

Surely what the money was spent on is irrelevant? The issue is whether the deceased gave them the money willingly or whether it was taken without their permission.

For example, if they were given £10k and spent it on booze and drugs that's fine. If they took £10k and paid for a kid's life saving operation that's theft.

Miles16v

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

How were the withdrawals made?

Bank transfer to herself. Not sure how exactly, but thinking about it presumably internet is the only option to do it for someone else? Which is something he would never have set up himself. Her name is all over the bank statements.

DigForVictory

I'm going to presume the account has been locked now & is executor only access?

Then total up the amounts & have a cosy family chat. Which may or may not bring the truth, but get the facts into the hands of the entire family.

Odds on you'll never see that money again, but if it costs you a sibling, only you as a family can decide if that's a price you & your father would consider reasonable.

Owain_Moneysaver

Assuming that the Will bequeaths the money in some proportion to all four children, there appears to be a fourth child who is neither an executor nor party to the withdrawals who stands to lose possibly a sizeable bequest.

The executors have a duty to execute the Will and manage the estate. In such a case where there is a suspicion of fraud, the executors should notify both the bank and the police. The executors should also take immediate legal advice.

izoomzoom

As someone who now manages my mother's account, I know that when I took my mother to the bank to effect a transfer, the bank accepted my signature for the set up of the transfer ..... I know I have some "permissions" as Mum signed a 3rd party mandate a few years ago, however, I didn't believe it included me being able to actually do transfers.

Anyway, my point is, raise a fraud query with the bank. It might help you to find out how the transfer was initially set up (I assume all this must be recorded on the banks history notes).

konark

Do you feel the bank has been negligent in doing nothing whilst a 90-year-old person's account is drained? May be one avenue to pursue?

Bank transfer to herself sounds like online banking, she'll have set up online banking from his account. Did the elderly gent have a computer? If so was it used to make the transfers, go into History and check.