Guardian to a bank account

Jonny2019

My nephew that lives with my dad who’s 81 and his mum who’s got disability issues has run numerous debts up over the years and chooses to ignore them with lots of debt collection agency’s threatening court action and bailiffs at my dads address.
My dad currently is guardian to a Halifax bank account that my nephew is named on which was taken out when he was child but has never been given the money due to drug and alcohol issues in the past and my nephew refuses to pay any of the debts with the money to get them under control.
My question is Can my dad withdraw from that account if the money is used to benefit my nephew and avoid further action?

unforeseen

Surely if the child is now over 18 then your father is no longer the guardian. Your nephew is entitled to access the account himself without having to answer to your father (or yourself)

Jonny2019

For what I know the account shows up on my dads online account and both parties have to be present before the money can be transferred

Terry_Towelling

Jonny2019 wrote: »

For what I know the account shows up on my dads online account and both parties have to be present before the money can be transferred

You need to find out if this is correct. Your dad should talk to the bank. There's limited benefit in asking users of this forum to guess how the account should operate now that your nephew is over 18.

Jonny2019

My mother passed away 3 months ago and she pretty much controlled everything for my dad and sister, I’m now the one who’s trying to make sense of everything since I found out about the debts.

Terry_Towelling

Jonny2019 wrote: »

My mother passed away 3 months ago and she pretty much controlled everything for my dad and sister, I’m now the one who’s trying to make sense of everything since I found out about the debts.

But if your mum wasn't a named individual on the account, how did she manage to control it? Do you know what your mum did about the debt-collectors, bailiffs and court-action threats when they started coming in?

You still need to find out about the account. Take your dad to the bank and chat with the staff about it.

At the end of the day, it is your nephew that needs to worry about the alleged debts.

Ben8282

Could I please ask how old your nephew is now? You refer to him having run up numerous debts over the years which would imply he is now well past his 18th birthday.
So long as the debts are in his name and he has not been making fraudulent applications for credit in the names of his mum or your dad, then however distressing the situation of the DCA contact may be for your Dad, he really has nothing to worry about. Have baliffs really been knocking on the door? Really? What happened when they came. Baliffs can only attend after a court order has been obtained and an order for baliff enforcement granted and obviously they can only take away property actually belonging to your nephew and not property belonging to your Dad or your Aunt.

With regard to the bank account, as your nephew is now over 18, your Dad may well be acting illegally in refusing to hand over his money to him. It seems odd that a child account would require both the adult and the child to be present to make withdrawals. Could you perhaps give some more information about this account. Where did the money come from? Who opened the account? Who selected your dad as guardian? After all, your nephew's mum is still living so why was she not selected as guardian? Is the court not aware of the existance of this account? Did your dad not inform the baliffs when they came knocking at his door?