Children’s inheritance

Ct82

Hi, my child is under 18 and is due to receive some inheritance from my mothers will. The executors of the will want to put my child’s inheritance in a bank account under the executors name. As their parent do I have the right to say I want their inheritance to go into a savings account under my child’s name?

NlghtOwl

The issue may be if it’s in a child account which you have full access to (dependent on child’s age). Can it be put into JISA if amount is not too large?

Marcon

Ct82 said:

Hi, my child is under 18 and is due to receive some inheritance from my mothers will. The executors of the will want to put my child’s inheritance in a bank account under the executors name. As their parent do I have the right to say I want their inheritance to go into a savings account under my child’s name?

No, being the parent doesn't give you that right.

Sea_Shell

Wherever the money ends up and in who's name... let's hope the trustees are open and transparent about what's where.

How far under 18 are they?  

Keep_pedalling

The money needs to be held in trust, so you are quite right to object to it being kept in the executors name. Normally I would expect executors to pass the responsibility to act as trustees over to the parents unless they have concerns about the parents acting properly.

How much are we talking about and how old is the child? If they are nearing 18 then it should be held in cash, if they are a baby then I would want it invested for them. If it is a small sum of money then putting it in a JISA would lock the money away until they are I8, for larger sums it needs to be held in a trust account.

Marcon

Keep_pedalling said:

The money needs to be held in trust, so you are quite right to object to it being kept in the executors name. 

Not if they are going to be the trustees. OP, do you know what the will actually says?

Richard1212

The parent is not the executor/executrix in this case so he/she has no say in the execution of the Will. There may be a very good reason why the parent in question was not named as executor.

A lot depends on what was said in the Will. If no Trust or Trustees were set up in the Will, my understanding is that the executor can do pretty much what he wants to in the best interests of the child beneficiary. He can put money into parents' account or not. Putting it in an account under his name is not unusual----after all, he is the executor, the person entrusted to do all post mortem work-----and, let's face it, he can't very well run off and spend the money himself as everyone will stand up and point his way to prison.

So I trust the executor chooses a good high rate savings account and fashions it just right for the best results for the time when the children are of age. Parents are not entitled to hold the money and they should accept this gracefully. 

All that is different, of course, if the Will states any wish or provision about a Trust or Trustees or parents. But, given info so far, the executor is in charge and will execute his responsibilities as he sees fit.

Spendless

Since I recall a thread a couple of years ago where a child had inherited and as they turned 18 asked for their money - only to be stalled by the executor and eventually it was established that executor had spent it over the years and then died before the police investigation into it was concluded. I hope that if it's not able to be put into a JISA where only  the  child can access it themselves at 18 then I hope it is going to go into something which is very transparent so the child does get the money when they become an adult. 

Sea_Shell

Spendless said:

Since I recall a thread a couple of years ago where a child had inherited and as they turned 18 asked for their money - only to be stalled by the executor and eventually it was established that executor had spent it over the years and then died before the police investigation into it was concluded. I hope that if it's not able to be put into a JISA where only  the  child can access it themselves at 18 then I hope it is going to go into something which is very transparent so the child does get the money when they become an adult. 

That thread has stuck with me too.   So sad, but shows how badly wrong things can, and do, go sometimes.

Sea_Shell

More info on their other thread here...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80312048/#Comment_80312048

"Hi, my children aged 12 and 14 are due to receive some inheritance from my mothers will. My brother and sister are executives of the will and are saying they are going to put my children’s inheritance in a bank account under my brother and sisters name. Are my brother and sister allowed to make this decision, or as their father do I have the right to say I want their inheritance to go into a savings account in my children’s names? Thanks"

Keep_pedalling

Sea_Shell said:

More info on their other thread here...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80312048/#Comment_80312048

"Hi, my children aged 12 and 14 are due to receive some inheritance from my mothers will. My brother and sister are executives of the will and are saying they are going to put my children’s inheritance in a bank account under my brother and sisters name. Are my brother and sister allowed to make this decision, or as their father do I have the right to say I want their inheritance to go into a savings account in my children’s names? Thanks"

If the brother and sister are going to act as trustees for the children’s inheritance then they must do this properly and as the children’s parent the OP should certainly need to be assured that this is the case and that the money is deposited to earn a reasonable return.

In the case of bare trusts trustees need to open an individual trustees account for each child, not a joint account under their own names. In the unlikely event the will specifies it to be held as a discretionary trust then a single trustee account. 

They also need to register the trusts with HMRC.