Beneficiary has no bank account

novelli

My adult,(age 30), learning disabled son has inherited around £150,000 share (with half siblings) of his late fathers estate.  The executors(firm of solicitors) and solicitors have been considerably slow to deal with the will, sale of properties etc. The death occurred over a year ago but the children, (all now adults),  are still waiting for their inheritance.  6 months from probate will be 2nd June, the solicitor acting for executors has said they can have a £10,000 interim payment then.  Cant seem to get a straight answer from them as to why only an interim payment and not the whole estate.   

My son does not have a bank account and has no photo ID. He was financially abused by a so called friend a few years ago so the account he had was closed and i receive all his PIP etc, as his appointed person, pay his bills and handle all finances.  I have explained this to the solicitor acting for executors, but she says no they cannot pay into my account.  I have tried explaining that for him to have large amounts of money or banks cards etc puts him at risk of harm as he is vulnerable to being abused again.  He himself agrees with this and prefers me to handle all his affairs and have his money paid to him every few days so he doesnt have a lot in one go.

He has capacity to give them either written or in person permission to pay into my account, but they are still refusing, basically saying the only way they will pay it is into an account in his name.  The say i will have to get POA, but i am aware that this takes some time, my fathers took over a year and comes at a cost, which for something that is not necessary we are reluctant to do. They say they are happy to deal with POA on his behalf and will bill him accordingly!!  they have already had £40,000 in fees!!!!

Do they have the legal right to withhold the inheritance from my son or can my son insist that he wants to nominate my account to have it paid into this is the same account that has his PIP paid into so we are able to provide bank statements showing this.

elsien

Does your son have capacity to manage his own finances or not? That’s slightly different to having capacity to write to them telling them to give you the money and may be what is underlying this issue? 

novelli

he doesnt have capacity to handle his own finances no, and he is aware of that.  He doesnt have the capacity to write to them himself, he would need a letter drafted up for him to sign or is happy for me to take him the the solicitors to give his permission in person

theoretica

It would probably be a wise move in the medium term to get the formal paperwork sorted so that such a large sum doesn't get tangled into your money - for income tax etc.  But I can see why you might not want these solicitors to handle it.

elsien

novelli said:

he doesnt have capacity to handle his own finances no, and he is aware of that.  He doesnt have the capacity to write to them himself, he would need a letter drafted up for him to sign or is happy for me to take him the the solicitors to give his permission in person

Then for that amount of money I suggest you would need the LPA or a deputyship if he also lacks capacity around completing an LPA. If he doesn't understand money and doesn't really understand the amounts involved then he's not really fully understanding what exactly he is giving permission for. The solicitor is acting correctly to safeguard his interests, in my view. That doesn't mean that anyone thinks you're going to be doing anything inappropriate but it's a safeguard for the both of you. 
LPAs can be done yourself online, but you will need someone to confirm capacity if there might be a query which is where a solicitor (possibly a different one) can be helpful if challenged. They are not taking so long at the moment but you are right that deputyships are taking a long time.

msb1234

I agree, the solicitor is acting in your son’s best interest. They do t know you from Adam, and will not pay his money to anyone else even with his say so. This is what financial control looks like. 

You need to apply for Deputyship in order to have control over his financial affairs. 

Regarding the timescale, it’s only been 6 months, and he’s being offered an interim payment. That’s not at all unusual. It may take you a further 3 months to get the Deputyship sorted, and it will need to be done for when he receives the balance of his inheritance. That’s a lot of money that needs to be carefully managed for him, and a Deputyship will do just that. 

Keep_pedalling

novelli said:

he doesnt have capacity to handle his own finances no, and he is aware of that.  He doesnt have the capacity to write to them himself, he would need a letter drafted up for him to sign or is happy for me to take him the the solicitors to give his permission in person

You really need to get a LPA for finance in place. I am not surprised the solicitors refuse to pay the money to any account not in his name.

Peterrr

How about opening a joint bank account? They surely would be prepared to pay into that and then your son can choose to cut up his card leaving you to operate it for him

JGB1955

Peterrr said:

How about opening a joint bank account? They surely would be prepared to pay into that and then your son can choose to cut up his card leaving you to operate it for him

If the son doesn't have capacity to handle his own finances, then he can't 'choose to cut up his card leaving you to operate it for him' - neither can he open up a joint bank account - the horse has already bolted.  This all needed sorting out some time ago.

doodling

Hi,

JGB1955 said:

Peterrr said:

How about opening a joint bank account? They surely would be prepared to pay into that and then your son can choose to cut up his card leaving you to operate it for him

If the son doesn't have capacity to handle his own finances, then he can't 'choose to cut up his card leaving you to operate it for him' - neither can he open up a joint bank account - the horse has already bolted.  This all needed sorting out some time ago.

That isn't quite correct, capacity isn't an either/or thing encompassing a whole subject. It sounds like the Son has the capacity to open a bank account and the capacity to decide that he doesn't want to manage it.  It sounds like it is social interaction involving money that the Son has difficulty with.

The fact that the Son has the self awareness to understand what has happened in the past and consequently defer management of his finances to the OP suggests quite a high level of capacity in some aspects.

Of course, all the above is speculation, we don't know the OPs son.

Having said all that, getting a power of attorney in place is the correct long term solution, irrespective of whether a joint account is a valid short term one.

thegreenone

Could your son open a new account to receive the money and then move it out to your care and close the account?