Daughters bank account empty

Leanne1904

Hi,
My daughter is 13, when she was around 5months old my husband set up a save4it account with Halifax. He was the trustee on the account. I have recently discovered he has cleared out the account, over £3500 gone. The bank and the police say there is nothing that can be done as he is the Trustee on the account. I was wondering if anyone knew if this is true or if there is anything I can do?
Tia

atush

Have you divorced? Did you have a financial agreement? If so, that was the time for the acct to be transferred to you as trustee if you are the custodial parent.

Does he pay maintenance? You could take him back to coourt to increase maintenance so as to build up an account for her now.

Does he see his child? Does she know he took her money?

jimjames

Husband or ex husband? Have you asked him what happened to the money? If he is the signatory on the account then he is able to do transactions on it so the police won't be able to do anything

xylophone

It's a breach of trust but

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/11286926/Martin-Lewis-the-eight-questions-Im-always-asked-about-childrens-savings.html


As for whether it is legal to do so, I've consulted lawyers who, as is often the case, had mixed views. Some say it is criminal fraud, others say there's nothing in practice to stop it though you could attempt a civil suit for breach of fiduciary responsibility.

Leanne1904

We are still married but separated. I am now filing for divorce.
There was no financial agreement, but I was in possession of the paying in book which was all I was aware you could use to take money out of the account.
Child maintenance, he does pay but bare minimum atm as last tax year he earned so little. He very rarely had the children, some times it would be months between him having them

xylophone

but I was in possession of the paying in book which was all I was aware you could use to take money out of the account.

But you were not the trustee?

https://static.halifax.co.uk/assets/pdf/savings/pdf/back-book-savings-account-conditions.pdf

Withdrawals/closure
Instant access with no loss of interest. You will need
to visit one of our branches with a counter to make a
withdrawal or close your account.

It doesn't make it clear whether or not the passbook was required but if this was a passbook account, it seems strange that the book wasn't requested.

EachPenny

atush wrote: »

Have you divorced? Did you have a financial agreement? If so, that was the time for the acct to be transferred to you as trustee if you are the custodial parent.

The concept of 'custody' is now outdated as far as the courts are concerned. Parents will normally be deemed to have joint responsibility and that means shared responsibility for things like managing and protecting the child's finances. You could only get a parent excluded from involvement in the child's savings if it could be proved the parent had acted fraudulently in the past.

atush wrote: »

Does he pay maintenance? You could take him back to coourt to increase maintenance so as to build up an account for her now.

Going to court for anything to do with child maintenance is unlikely to be worthwhile these days unless very special circumstances apply. It is unlikely a court would make an order against a parent for the purpose of building up a savings balance, especially if the parent concerned is on a low income.

bowlhead99

Leanne1904 wrote: »

We are still married but separated. I am now filing for divorce.
There was no financial agreement, but I was in possession of the paying in book which was all I was aware you could use to take money out of the account.
Child maintenance, he does pay but bare minimum atm as last tax year he earned so little. He very rarely had the children, some times it would be months between him having them

So when you make a financial agreement as part of the divorce, make it clear that in addition to what you mutually agree he pays towards the children there is also the child's £3500 which he's holding on to and has to spend on them. Or sign back over to you to spend on them given you're the one seeing them 360 days a year.

Assuming he's already spent the £3500 and doesn't have any cash, the latter seems unlikely to happen.

xylophone

If the OP has instructed a solicitor in connection with the divorce, she might consider asking his advice concerning the breach of trust?

Westie983

Although its a passbook account, withdrawals can be made as long as the signature on the account matches the signature in front of the cashier.

As the named trustee on the account, he is the only one who can make any withdrawals, not even the child, you are right sadly that there is nothing that can be done, and sadly is an issue that has become more apparent recently.

I would ask your husband what the money was spent on, or whether he is going to repay the account balance to the child.

Sorry its not better news,

Westie983

Leanne1904

He!!!8217;s not on a low income anymore, he!!!8217;s now in the army so has a reasonable wage coming in.
The paying in book was in my possession as I was the only person putting money into the account. Money that came from relatives etc.
He has spent all the money, I!!!8217;ve got a statement showing all of the money being removed over an 8month period.