Dealing with undocumented inheritance cash.....

woolythoughts

Hi

Asking on behalf of my friend who is in a right bind.

Her father died a few weeks ago. Her mother a couple of years ago. Both were in their 90s and received state pension and not much else.

She's the sole inheritor of the will being an only child. So far so good.

The problem is - there is a significant chunk of cash in the house that is now hers. North of 60K. Seems dad didnt trust banks and had money stashed EVERYWHERE. I've just helped her clear the house we just kept finding it. 10K was under the matress, 5K in a biscuit tin. You get the picture,

Seems Dad didn't trust the banks his entire life.

Problem is, she can't get a bank to accept the cash because she can't prove where it came from. They won't accept the truth and are asking her to prove it.

Any ideas?

eDicky

Did you take photos of the biscuit tin, mattress etc? (Not that it's any proof.)

Are the bills all current, or some out of date issues? Which denominations, or various?

Sea_Shell

Is it in current legal tender notes? Or a mixture going back years? Not sure what banks view would be on exchanging old notes for new, or how much they'd change.

If it was a smaller amount, I'd suggest spending it gradually, but £60k is a massive amount of cash!!

Do you have any pension withdrawal documents/receipts to show where some of it came from??

Can you bank a bit, little and often at more than 1 bank, and is that allowed?

woolythoughts

Some are out of date - mainly 10s and 20s.

Seemingly he did periodically go and change notes when there were new issues - so there are quite a few of the new plastic 10s (not all).

TBH - we think he's accumulated it over the years in lieu of a private pension.

woolythoughts

We did think of banking small amount - little and often - but figures that would possibly draw even more attention once the money laundering department saw it.

[Deleted User]

woolythoughts wrote: »

We did think of banking small amount - little and often - but figures that would possibly draw even more attention once the money laundering department saw it.

Ah, the Bank's Money Laundering Dept. HSBC has one - I guess all banks do:


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/12/11/hsbc-spared-us-money-laundering-sanctions-battles-clean-act/


OP, your best bet is to drip feed it into various current accounts at irregular intervals and quantities. Talking of HSBC a couple of years ago I took in £5k (car sale proceeds) and they put it through a counting machine, no questions asked.

woolythoughts

She's self employed so does have the option of putting it through the business but then she'd be taxed on it (which I suppose is better than nothing)

If she used it for living expenses paying cash where possible I'm 99% certain HMRC would open an investigation into undeclared income based on spending patterns changing.

But I think a combination of spending, drip feeding and maybe a bit of extra business income might be the way to go. I just spoke to he on the phone and suggested if she needed any new large purchases or a holiday, to pay cash. Although she did poit out a lot of places wont take cash anymore! I know a hotel I'm staying at in a few weeks wont accept cash for room payments.

Section106

woolythoughts wrote: »

Asking on behalf of my friend who is in a right bind.

Her father died a few weeks ago. Her mother a couple of years ago. Both were in their 90s and received state pension and not much else.

She's the sole inheritor of the will being an only child. So far so good.

The problem is - there is a significant chunk of cash in the house that is now hers. North of 60K. Seems dad didnt trust banks and had money stashed EVERYWHERE. I've just helped her clear the house we just kept finding it. 10K was under the matress, 5K in a biscuit tin. You get the picture,

Seems Dad didn't trust the banks his entire life.

Problem is, she can't get a bank to accept the cash because she can't prove where it came from. They won't accept the truth and are asking her to prove it.

Any ideas?

Is she trying to pay it into her own accounts, or her fathers?

Strictly speaking the money isn't hers (yet), so paying it into her own account(s) could cause problems. Paying in small amounts on a regular basis is also not a good way of dealing with the issue, it can look like suspicious behaviour.

She probably needs help from a solicitor to sort the estate out. It would be best to seek their advice on the best way of handling (and declaring) the cash.

woolythoughts

She tried to pay it into her fathers initially - and was told she couldnt as she couldnt prove where the money came from and it wasnt her account

So then she tried her own (different bank) - saying it was from her fathers estate - and that was when they asked for proof of origin.

I don't think its going to matter either way - the banks dont want to take the money.

The only estate is a house worth less than 150K and the cash/personal possesions - doesnt really need a solicitor if it can be helped.

P.S. I'm trying to get her to sign up here herself but she's claiming I'm doing such a good job for her

Ergates

I'd suggest speaking to a solicitor and or going back to the banks. The problem with trying to "sneak" the money into accounts is you're then behaving *exactly* like someone trying to launder money or avoid tax, so there is a high chance of being flagged by the AML processes and/or by HMRC.

Section106

woolythoughts wrote: »

She tried to pay it into her fathers initially - and was told she couldnt as she couldnt prove where the money came from and it wasnt her account

So then she tried her own (different bank) - saying it was from her fathers estate - and that was when they asked for proof of origin.

I don't think its going to matter either way - the banks dont want to take the money.

The only estate is a house worth less than 150K and the cash/personal possesions - doesnt really need a solicitor if it can be helped.

P.S. I'm trying to get her to sign up here herself but she's claiming I'm doing such a good job for her

If she doesn't appreciate the risks involved in trying to 'launder' £60k of cash from her father's estate through her business account then she desperately needs the advice of a good solicitor.

It isn't that the banks don't want to take the money, it is that anti-money laundering regulations require them to take care when accepting large amounts of cash from doubtful sources. Attempting to bypass those checks by paying in smaller amounts, or paying it into other accounts, just makes it look more suspicious.

If you really want to do a good job, advise her to see a solicitor.