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

Danien

Your Mum seems to be worried about bills being paid after her death, is that right?

In normal circumstances at your Mother's death you would just set up direct debits from your own account and a will would leave you any money in her account. Your mother can pre buy a funeral plan, or someone else mentioned it being charged to her account, but I'm unsure about that.

The reason I ask if it's the bills that are the issue, is you've said you're on ESA - is your Mum worried about you coping with setting things up after her death? Because there may be another solution for that.

You said your mother hit you with this last night - did she explain what her particular worries were?

badmemory

Yes the undertaker should bill the bank who will pay as it is a priority debt.  You can check before organising that they will or as suggested she could sort her funeral now.  Mine is bought & organised & has been for over 8 years now.

Paul.

Hi, sorry it has been a few days!

Anyway, I had a talk with my mum, and she let me see her will, it's a very basic will, nothing complicated or tough to arrange, and my cousins are her executors. There are no risks of anyone contesting it, so if something happens to her, I should be able to just go down to her bank, show them her paperwork, and get her bank account put into my name, right?

If I got that right, then essentially there's no point doing anything at the moment. She also has a couple of life insurance policies, and is planning on pre-paying for her funeral with one of those simple cremation things that are advertised on TV, so no worry about undertakers etc.

The current wrinkle is that the solicitors who wrote up her will disappeared years and years ago, and we only have a copy of the will, not the original. They never notified us when they stopped practising/retired/died/got abducted by aliens, so we have no way to find out if anyone else was given the paperwork. I tried looking it up online, and to find out if someone has it is nearly £60, so it might be better to just get it re-written.

elsien

No, you would not deal with the bank to have the account transferred to your name. Her account will be frozen when the bank is informed of her death and the executors would be responsible for dealing with her affairs if there is a valid will and would need to make sure any debts were paid before passing any money over to you. The money would come to you, but not just by changing the name on the account. 
You would also need to contact all the providers that you need to take the bills over for with the relevant readings and have all bills that you will carry on with put in your name. 
Getting the will rewritten probably isn't a bad idea after that length of time - just wondering why she doesn't have you down as executor? 

Please think about a power of attorney in case your mother loses capacity to manage her finances or make decisions about health treatments and where she lives. As per my previous post, a joint account can be frozen if the bank become aware and utility providers etc will not talk to you without the legal documentation being in place. It can be done online and costs £82 each for the finance one and the health/welfare power of attorney with reductions for people on certain benefits. Very simply, who does you mum want to have making decisions for her if she can't make them herself - you or a doctor/social worker?

peteuk

If there is a house then it will go to probate, which can take months.  It’s easer with the oringinal will, but can be done with a copy.  it just means a few more questions, which in your case will be the law firm who held the will isn’t practicing anymore.   So fairly straight forward. 

At this point bills still need to be paid etc etc. so have a think about it from that point of view.  My sister had POA for my Dad and the bank were used to her so it was a lot easier than it could have been.