Bare trust? Need advice on how to invest funds for bereaved children

theoretica

xylophone said:

'For the child's sole benefit' is exactly my point - and I can think of many ways where 8k could be better spent in childhood than saved, depending on the financial resources of the remaining parent and the childhood the children will have without this money.  Swimming lessons, driving lessons, school trips, better clothing, hobbies... 

In which case the Trustee (s) hold the money in a child savings account for each child as above and release monies at his/ their discretion for the specific benefit of each child.

Yes - which I understand they cannot do if the money has been put into child ISAs and so I suggest it is good to think about if this might be needed before deciding where to put the money.

xylophone

which I understand they cannot do if the money has been put into child ISAs a

This is the case - ISA can only be accessed (by the young adult only) at age 18.

Malthusian

theoretica said:

'For the child's sole benefit' is exactly my point - and I can think of many ways where 8k could be better spent in childhood than saved, depending on the financial resources of the remaining parent and the childhood the children will have without this money.  Swimming lessons, driving lessons, school trips, better clothing, hobbies... 

I would take legal advice before doing any of that, because it could be argued that the parent would normally be expected to pay for all or some of those and the trustees are effectively using the child's money to subsidise the parent.
If the parent is skint and cannot afford to pay for their children's needs themselves, then there would be a stronger argument for using their money in that way. But I would reiterate that we haven't been told anything about the parent's financial situation.

xylophone

children's needs

A school trip to Pompeii (say) can be optional and therefore not a "need" - however, as a cultural experience enriching the child's life could be of great benefit.

The same could be said of music lessons.

In essence, the duty of the Trustee is to ensure that the bequest is used for the sole benefit of the child.

He might decide that a set amount of a bequest could be used annually while the rest remained invested/saved. 

MissBojangles

Thank you all for your suggestions.  Surviving parent is a fly-by-night character with a dubious financial position.  We will look into obtaining birth certificates and opening accounts that can be accessed at 18.  We would not be able to trust any requests from the parent for the 'sole benefit of the child'. We have worries that parent will still be 'controlling' children even at age 18 and money may get 'swept away' but believe there is nothing we can do to prevent that when the time comes...