Gifted Deposit - Solicitors being difficult about ID

Section62

Smalltownhypocrite said:

They likely need to see her and verify that she is of 'sound mind' and not being forced/manipulated/financially abused, as seemingly you have spearheaded and done all this stuff claiming that she 'cant' do any of it which is quite the red flag.

I don't think it would be that.

If the OP's solicitor has any doubt about the giftor's capacity and/or free will then they should be insisting on the giftor seeing a (firm of) solicitor(s) independent of the one acting for the OP.

It would be a conflict of interest for the solicitor acting for the OP to 'investigate' the situation of the giftor, beyond doing any necessary ID/AML checks.

Cooliogti

Isthisforreal99 said:

They are not being 'difficult', they are doing exactly what is required of them with a face to face (inc video ID check). You taking in the documents you did as a 3rd party was never going to be sufficient.

Could have pre-empted all this in various ways.

Thats was why I put "difficult" in the quote marks as I couldn't quite think of a better word for it, I know they need to do the necessary checks. They knew ahead of time (by a number of weeks) that I was visiting her, and that she did not have Driving Licence or Passport so could not do the app and it was they who gave me the list of suggested alternatives which I duly provided. For them to now insist on the video call over a month afterwards is a little frustrating to say the least though

Cooliogti

Smalltownhypocrite said:

They likely need to see her and verify that she is of 'sound mind' and not being forced/manipulated/financially abused, as seemingly you have spearheaded and done all this stuff claiming that she 'cant' do any of it which is quite the red flag.

I totally see your point regarding me spearheading it and that bringing up red flags, but the Solicitors were the ones who said "she can't do the ID Verification through the app as she doesn't have a driving licence or Passport". Do you mean that they have possibly deliberately waited until I wasn't there with her, to do this video call so that I am not there to coerce her into it? Granted that is a very valid point, although still frustrating that they may have done it like this. 

HobgoblinBT

Had you thought of purchasing a smartphone for the gifter?  It will cost, but nothing compared to the house deposit they are giving you.  

silvercar

HobgoblinBT said:

Had you thought of purchasing a smartphone for the gifter?  It will cost, but nothing compared to the house deposit they are giving you.  

I doubt the purchase of a smart phone is the issue, more that the elderly don’t want a smart phone and won’t use one.

Cooliogti

HobgoblinBT said:

Had you thought of purchasing a smartphone for the gifter?  It will cost, but nothing compared to the house deposit they are giving you.  

I'd happily buy her one, but she's 85 and her current mobile is a brick, big button one as normal sized number pads are too small and she ends up pressing 2 or 3 keys at the same time. As Sheenas said it's the "Older generation and technology" problem. How did they do this before Teams & Zoom & Facetime etc...?

loubel

They would go and speak to the solicitor face to face. 
Using a local solicitor to meet and confirm her identity and that there are no concerns over capacity would seem the obvious solution here. I suspect the solicitors have done a follow up review and realised that they need to do further checks given the number of red flags the situation raises.

Brie

loubel said:

They would go and speak to the solicitor face to face. 
Using a local solicitor to meet and confirm her identity and that there are no concerns over capacity would seem the obvious solution here. I suspect the solicitors have done a follow up review and realised that they need to do further checks given the number of red flags the situation raises.

I do think this is the answer and again while it will cost (taxis to and fro, solicitors fees, so maybe no more than £500?) it will be a lot less than the amount gifted.   

Alternative is to take a day's holiday from work.  Which will cost you more?

tetrarch

I had a very similar issue with the same lack of digital ID. I was advised that the GP would be a suitable person to identify (my MIL) but the surgery flat-out refused to assist

In the end I gave up and sold some assets to find the additional cash.

If there is a way to get a larger mortgage or liquidate some assets temporarily then there is no reason that you can't pay down the mortgage with gifted money at a point in the very near future, without the hassle you are discovering at the point of loan origination

Regards

Tet