Joint bank account

SabNys

I'm reaching a rather delicate age. I would like one of my daughters to have access to my bank accounts. We live 41 miles apart.

The banks are Barclays, First Direct, and RBS.

I would be grateful for any reader's experiences or comments.

Thanks.

sheramber

Consider a Power of Attorney for your daughter.

Skippy13

My Mum had an account with Barclays and it wasn't a problem to make it a joint account. It made life a lot easier as she got older. I also had POA.

Mojisola

SabNys wrote: »

I'm reaching a rather delicate age. I would like one of my daughters to have access to my bank accounts. We live 41 miles apart.

The banks are Barclays, First Direct, and RBS.

I would be grateful for any reader's experiences or comments.

Definitely get POA set up.

In the meantime, your daughter can become a signatory on your accounts - that will give her access to manage the account without the money becoming hers.

Tom99

Are these all current accounts?
I had POA which I never used and a joint current account with my mother. It made it very easy to shop for her using my debit card, get cash out for her and control the account online.

Her savings account were in her own name but I had online access to them

I understand getting POA access to an account can sometimes be a bit of a faff but you should have POA just in case it's needed.

SabNys

Tom99 wrote: »

Are these all current accounts?

Yes, all three are current accounts.

Thanks.

Mojisola

SabNys wrote: »

I'm reaching a rather delicate age. I would like one of my daughters to have access to my bank accounts.

If you change your bank accounts to joint accounts, when you die all the money in them will belong to that one daughter.

Were you planning to share out your estate between all your daughters?

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If you thought your daughter was going to deprive her siblings of their share you would probably not want a joint account with her.[/FONT]

SabNys

Mojisola wrote: »

If you change your bank accounts to joint accounts, when you die all the money in them will belong to that one daughter.

Were you planning to share out your estate between all your daughters?

Yes. That's the way that my will is written. My other daughter approves of all this.

But from a strictly legal point of view, would joint bank accounts be part of my estate?

Thanks.

Mojisola

SabNys wrote: »

But from a strictly legal point of view, would joint bank accounts be part of my estate?

No, the money would automatically be owned by the other joint owner.

If she is receipt of any means tested benefits at the time of your death, she may not be able to share the money out with her sisters without it having a financial impact on her benefits.

enthusiasticsaver

Power of attorney. I have one for my mum but have not activated it yet as she can still manage her finances ok. When she no longer wants to be bothered with it I shall activate and manage her finances online. She can still use her debit card for shopping/cash at the local supermarket.