Parent Adding Me To Their Bank Account - Will It Affect Either of Our Benefits?

Paul.

Hi. I am living with my mother, and she wants to put me on her current account in case anything happens to her, as all the bill are in her name (I send her money via standing order monthly). She gets a state pension with pension credit, and I get ESA with the Support Group addition.

Neither of us individually have a lot of saving, but I am worried if I am added to her account it will count both of our savings combined, and we may lose any benefits we have.

I tried looking on the .gov website, but it mentions both household and partner at different times. Obviously, my mother isn't my partner, but will adding my name to her account cause any problems? I would still keep my account with the meagre saving in it, this is purely so I can continue to pay any bills (water/gas/electric/internet etc.) in the event of her death.

Is there a better/safer way to do this?

luvchocolate

Mt father was blind and living independently. 
He put me on his current account to make it easier for me doing his shopping. 
I had a debit card in my name on his account. 
It was told 50%of funds were classed as mine. 
Some of the very knowledgeable posters will be along to help 

HillStreetBlues

Paul. said:

Hi. I am living with my mother, and she wants to put me on her current account in case anything happens to her, as all the bill are in her name (I send her money via standing order monthly). She gets a state pension with pension credit, and I get ESA with the Support Group addition.

Neither of us individually have a lot of saving, but I am worried if I am added to her account it will count both of our savings combined, and we may lose any benefits we have.

I tried looking on the .gov website, but it mentions both household and partner at different times. Obviously, my mother isn't my partner, but will adding my name to her account cause any problems? I would still keep my account with the meagre saving in it, this is purely so I can continue to pay any bills (water/gas/electric/internet etc.) in the event of her death.

Is there a better/safer way to do this?

I would set up a power of attorney. You could then use the PoA to manage her bank account. As all bills are in her name this would also allow you to manage them if needed, adding you to a bank account wouldn't do that.

HillStreetBlues

luvchocolate said:

Mt father was blind and living independently. 
He put me on his current account to make it easier for me doing his shopping. 
I had a debit card in my name on his account. 
It was told 50%of funds were classed as mine. 
Some of the very knowledgeable posters will be along to help 

It would depend on how it's set up. I have a debit card in my name for my mother's account as I have PoA  for it. 100% of the money is my mother's

If like the OP is thinking of doing is adding the OP to the mother's account, it no longer is just the mother's account, it's a joint account. The default with a joint account would be 50% each, unless they can show the money shouldn't be equally divided.

DullGreyGuy

As a joint account you each own everything thats in the account... for practicalities and to avoid double counting its therefore normally assumed you each own an equal share of the contents. So it would count as your savings/liquidity for any means tested benefits

As others have said, the correct route is a power of attorney so that the contents remains 100% your mothers but you can still control the account if needed. 

badmemory

The difference between the joint account & the power of attorney is if she dies your access to the account will cease via a POA but the joint account will become yours.  I THINK if she is on benefits then the POA is free & is really the way to go.  If she has a will then the account, if with one of the more normal banks, can quite quickly be tranferred to you by showing the will & the death certificate.

Sorry if that reads a little hard but better to know.

HillStreetBlues

badmemory said:

The difference between the joint account & the power of attorney is if she dies your access to the account will cease via a POA but the joint account will become yours.  I THINK if she is on benefits then the POA is free & is really the way to go.  If she has a will then the account, if with one of the more normal banks, can quite quickly be tranferred to you by showing the will & the death certificate.

Sorry if that reads a little hard but better to know.

As long as it's the Guarantee Credit part of PC then that is correct.

Paul.

Ok thank you all for your help! She is currently with Lloyds (I am with Natwest if that makes any difference). PoA definitely sounds like the way to go, but she is concerned that the bank would shut her account down as soon as they get word of her death. I assume that's not the case, but don't know for certain, so would a PoA affect that at all (like they wouldn't be able to shut her account because I am listed as having PoA on it?)

My mind is a little scrambled at the moment because it was clearly weighing on her mind for a while, and she decided to unburden herself to me at 11pm last night, so I've been awake all night trying to search for stuff online, but it seems if you so much as mention 'bank account' in your Google search you end up with pages of ads trying to get you to sign up, and nothing about what you actually search for!

HillStreetBlues

Paul. said:

Ok thank you all for your help! She is currently with Lloyds (I am with Natwest if that makes any difference). PoA definitely sounds like the way to go, but she is concerned that the bank would shut her account down as soon as they get word of her death. I assume that's not the case, but don't know for certain, so would a PoA affect that at all (like they wouldn't be able to shut her account because I am listed as having PoA on it?)

My mind is a little scrambled at the moment because it was clearly weighing on her mind for a while, and she decided to unburden herself to me at 11pm last night, so I've been awake all night trying to search for stuff online, but it seems if you so much as mention 'bank account' in your Google search you end up with pages of ads trying to get you to sign up, and nothing about what you actually search for!

With death the PoA  would end. They wouldn't close the account but restrict it.
You don't have to be with the same  bank or banking group with a PoA, but it can make it easier. With my mother's PoA bank accounts I'm not with either bank or group.

sheramber

With POA your access to the account in her name would cease. You would not be able to use her money to pay bills until her estate was finalised.

With a  joint account , in the  event of her death, the account will become a sole account in your name and you will be able to keep using it.

Does your mother have a will? It is important that she does, to make things easier  in the event of her death.

elsien

sheramber said:

With POA your access to the account in her name would cease. You would not be able to use her money to pay bills until her estate was finalised.

With a  joint account , in the  event of her death, the account will become a sole account in your name and you will be able to keep using it.

Does your mother have a will? It is important that she does, to make things easier  in the event of her death.

Although if she is worried about how her funeral would be paid for the funeral directors to invoice directly to the account. I can’t think what else you would need to use her account for immediately as bills could be transferred to your name from the date of her death. 

And a reminder that if one of the account holders for a joint account loses capacity, then the bank can freeze the account If they become aware of that because the person loses the ability to monitor what is happening. That is where a power-of-attorney is far more useful.