Using LPA to make existing Donor's current account Joint Account

Ibliss

Hi,  
The scenario - my Mum has a Santander 123 Account, from which there are two household bills paid via Direct Debit  (council tax and power).  She is currently in end of life care (late stage dementia, no specific timeline on this) and I'm looking at the best/easiest way to transfer the DD payments to my Dad.  My thought was that if he became joint account holder then at the point of my Mum passing there would effectively be a seamless transition with the account - it would then remain with my Dad as the sole account holder, the bills would continue to be paid etc.

My Dad and I are both named Financial & Properties Attorneys for my Mum.  I have previously registered my LPA with Santander and have access to accounts if needed.  My Dad has not yet registered his LPA with Santander.

Is it possible that I can (acting on my Mum's behalf) add my Dad to the Santander account as a joint account holder?  I imagine this would require my Dad and I to both pay a visit to the local branch and set this up.

If my Dad were to registered his LPA with Santander, can he add himself to the account as a joint account holder?

Thanks
M

elsien

Even if the bills have been paid from the joint account, if they are still in your mother’s name then they will need changing to your father’s name anyway at some point. I think that any direct debits in sole name from a joint account would still need to be cancelled and set up in the surviving account holders name. 

It seems a lot easier just to have the bills changed into your father’s name now and have him set up a direct debit from his own account.

Ibliss

Hi.  To follow up on this having spoken to someone in branch at Santander - Elsien you are correct about the direct debits: if they are only in my mum's name then they will need to be changed to be paid by my dad.

I was also told that in terms of making the existing account a joint account - this can only be done while the Donor has mental capacity. In our case, my mum no longer has mental capacity, so we cannot add my dad to her account as a joint account holder, which obviously limits our options and somewhat forces the issue that we have to deal with the DDs, as the account would be frozen when my mum passes.

Thanks

Savvy_Sue

I'd like to think that most utility companies wouldn't find it too difficult to change the source of a DD either before or after the person named on the bill dies. It may be more difficult to do it before Mum dies, if she lacks capacity, but again, I'd have thought that you could do this with your LPA. 

If not possible, I'd have thought it would be straightforward after death: if Dad's remaining in the house, then he'll be responsible for the bills, and providers should be happy to add his name to the bills?