Can I open a savings account for my niece and stop my sister from dipping in and having access?

dinks87

Does anyone know if there's a way to open a savings account for my nieces, as I'm not their legal guardian, without letting my sister have access to it?
The only reason for this is she's terrible with money and will constantly dip into it to buy things she thinks she or the kids 'deserve' like pointless designer clothes, rather than keeping it for their Uni fund.

Any advice would really be appreciated.

Willing2Learn

Hello dinks87 and welcome to the forum,

I think the best workaround for your problem could be to simply open up a savings account in your name. Then make deposits into it, as and when funds allow. Then when your niece turns 18, you can give her the money as a gift. (Also, just in case anything happens to you, make sure to put in your will that the funds held in xxxxxxx account is left to your niece at the time of your death).

xylophone

If a grandparent can open an account for a child then I should imagine that an aunt can?

https://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/accounts/kids/

https://uk.virginmoney.com/virgin/savings/learn/childrens-accounts/

https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate

Otherwise, has your sister/brother-in-law opened JISAs for the children?

You can contribute to these in the knowledge that they cannot be accessed until the child is 18 and then only by the child.

https://www.gov.uk/junior-individual-savings-accounts

Keep_pedalling

If you can persuade your sister to open a JISA account for each of them with a small opening amount, you can top it up whenever you like. The money cannot be touched until they are 18 and then only by them.

If you save for then in your own name make sure this is covered in your will.

AnotherJoe

What willing2 said, open it in your name.

kidmugsy

How old are the nieces?

choccielover

AnotherJoe wrote: »

What willing2 said, open it in your name.

But if she does that and she’s a higher rate tax payer with savings of her own then there will be tax to pay on the interest accrued in the account.

JISA seems like a more sensible idea unless you are also worried about your nieces sensibilities once she reaches 18?

Malthusian

choccielover wrote: »

But if she does that and she’s a higher rate tax payer with savings of her own then there will be tax to pay on the interest accrued in the account.

Why do you think the OP is a higher rate taxpayer?

And even a higher rate taxpayer would only pay tax if they had non-ISA savings interest of more than £500.

(Similarly, a basic rate taxpayer could also pay interest if they had non-ISA savings interest of more than £1,000.)

As Keep Pedalling says a Junior ISA would have to be opened by the child's mother. If saving in the OP's own name would result in an unwelcome tax problem, a bare trust account is worth considering, where income and gains would be taxed as the child's, and therefore probably tax-free. The OP would control the investments until the child was 18 and exercised their right to access the funds, whereas Junior ISAs automatically pass control of the investments to the child at 16 and the right to withdraw at 18.