Will Trust Beneficiary 18 soon doesn't have bank account (yet)

parkerparker

Sole beneficiary is 18 years old in a few weeks. She does not have a bank account. She is due a very large (six figure) sum of money from her deceased Father. I am the Executor / Trustee and not related to either the deceased or beneficiary. Long story short, the beneficiary lives with her Mother who was left zero in the Will. I need to give the money to the beneficiary whilst making absolutely sure that the Mother does not attempt to intercept / grab the money....or the deceased (my very dear friend) will come back and haunt me. What the daughter does with the money after it is in her name is her business of course. 

Can I insist on the beneficiary opening a bank account (so I can transfer money from the Will Trust Account) on or soon after her 18th Birthday? No point sending her a cheque as she doesn't have a bank account at this stage. 

Any ideas welcome.

Keep_pedalling

You certainly should only give the money to her, and with a large sum of money coming her way she will need more than a current account to handle this.

What sort of relationship do you have with her? she is really going to need some financial advice going from owning nothing to having a £100k plus is a massive change. 

parkerparker

I have no relationship with the beneficiary other than she is the daughter of my best friend (deceased). Her Mother despises me by association and I have not contacted the beneficiary until recently and only then to discuss the transfer of the Will Trust money. Once the money is transferred only to the beneficiary (as per my pledge to my friend), I can realistically have no further involvement and my duty as Trustee will be discharged. My feeling is to insist on the beneficiary opening an adult Personal Bank Account when they are 18 (few weeks)......but can I legally do this? This has been weighing on me for the last 8 years and I will be glad when it's all over. 

Thanks for listening.......

Alderbank

No, you can't insist on any of the beneficiaries doing anything unless it is a condition of the will. As executor you don't have any options, or 'feelings', your legal duty as well as your duty to your friend is to execute the clauses of the will exactly as he has written them.

If your friend had chosen to leave the five figure sum to you and expressed a wish that you would pass the money on to his daughter things would have been different, but he did not choose to do that.

Which country did your friend live in? Was he married to his daughter's mother when he died? You might find you are obliged to give the mother a part of the estate whether he will haunt you or not.

The usual procedure is for you to ensure that there is enough money left in the estate to pay this large sum after all debts have been paid, which might take some time, then to contact his daughter to ask her how she would like her inheritance to be paid.
If you don't want the responsibility of handing the money over against your better judgement and you haven't started administering the estate yet you can step down from being an executor. Even though your friend has named you, you can't be forced to do it.

parkerparker

UK based.The deceased's daughter is his sole beneficiary. His estranged wife (beneficiary's Mother) was expressly excluded from the Will and this was not contested although it caused a great deal of friction between the Mother's family and the unrelated Executors (me plus another). The Trust expires in two weeks. The Solicitor has already indicated that I can insist that the Trust money is paid into an account in the beneficiary's name only but that isn't as easy to determine as it sounds. The beneficiary has indicated that she has a cash card only which leaves me extremely suspicious that her Mother may have some control over that account. I understand I can send the beneficiary a cheque and let her deal with it but my friend's final wish was that only his daughter receives the money absolutely and the Mother doesn't receive anything as stated in the Will and Will Trust.

So back to the original question, how do I ensure that only the beneficiary receives the money. I can only consider that insisting on the beneficiary opening a brand new adult personal account on or after their 18th birthday will satisfy my obligations to the deceased. 

Thanks for the responses so far..........

I 

QrizB

parkerparker said:

The beneficiary has indicated that she has a cash card only which leaves me extremely suspicious that her Mother may have some control over that account.

What exactly makes you suspicious?

I had my first bank account (a Post Office savings account) while I was still in primary school, but I don't recall my parents having any access to it (short of hauling me down to the Post Office and making me hand the passbook over). It was the same for my kids and their Nationwide Flex One accounts. And that sort of duress won't be any different once she's 18.

Why do you think it's any different here?

user1977

You haven't said whether you've asked the beneficiary to open a bank account? Why wouldn't she? She's highly likely to need one soon anyway.

parkerparker

Thanks but none of that really applies. I haven't seen or spoken to the beneficiary since her Father's funeral other than a few messages recently to discuss the Trust Fund. I'm fairly sure (but not certain) the daughter will basically just hand over the trust money to her Mother in two weeks. But my duty as Trustee is to ensure that the money goes to the beneficiary only. What she does with the money on receipt is her business. The beneficiary has a cash card but this will have parental control. My Solicitor says I can insist on the beneficiary having a bank account but I remain unhappy as Trustee transferring money to a cash card with parental control. I can just send a cheque but the beneficiary could lose a lot of money in trying to cash the cheque without a personal bank account. I would prefer to remain friendly with the beneficiary although knowing her Mother I doubt that will continue. Oh and the Beneficiary and Mother have the same name so a cheque isn't a great option.

parkerparker

user1977 said:

You haven't said whether you've asked the beneficiary to open a bank account? Why wouldn't she? She's highly likely to need one soon anyway.

I have suggested it but the response was she "already has a cash card according to her Mother". To me, that means an account with parental control.......unless I misunderstand. I am fully aware that the Mother expected to be the sole beneficiary and I am now to be blamed for her not receiving any money....I arranged a death bed Will for my friend at his request to ensure only his daughter received the money from his estate. I wouldn't mind if it was family matter but I'm not even related. Grrrr.......

QrizB

The beneficiary has a cash card but this will have parental control.

Again, why do you think this? Has the beneficiary told you so, or is this just your assumption?

Sea_Shell

user1977 said:

You haven't said whether you've asked the beneficiary to open a bank account? Why wouldn't she? She's highly likely to need one soon anyway.

This.   

Why wouldn't the beneficiary want to open an adult bank account at 18, when they are due to receive a large sum of money.   Sound's like a big fat juicy carrot to me!   

However, as you understand, what then happens to the money once it has been handed over, is not really any of your business, and she could just give it all to her mum or let her have access to it.   

It all depends on whether you want to still be involved in administering the trust, going forwards (paying out smaller monthly amounts as stated earlier), or you just want it all done and dusted?