How Long Back do you have to provide evidence for the Money Laundering Checks?

GixerKate

Posting on behalf of my parents who are the process of buying a house mortgage free.  They are selling their current house and using some funds that have been sitting in a saving accounts for years to purchase the property.  The funds were mainly inherited when my Grandmother died in 2010.

They have now been asked to provide evidence of my Grandmother's estate from 2010 even though they have already provided years of saving account statements which clearly show the money has been there for years.  

Is this right or are the solicitors being a bit over-zealous?

jaybeetoo

I’d struggle to have details of my father’s estate from that long ago.

poseidon1

GixerKate said:

Posting on behalf of my parents who are the process of buying a house mortgage free.  They are selling their current house and using some funds that have been sitting in a saving accounts for years to purchase the property.  The funds were mainly inherited when my Grandmother died in 2010.

They have now been asked to provide evidence of my Grandmother's estate from 2010 even though they have already provided years of saving account statements which clearly show the money has been there for years.  

Is this right or are the solicitors being a bit over-zealous?

Sounds pretty standard to me.

 When I was trying to purchase a property back in 2020, my solicitors wanted proof of source of funds. In my case it was from a 2014 sale of main residence, but what was irritating is that I had to sarcastically point out that the same firm ( and indeed the same fee earner) had dealt with that sale, so they already had proof of source themselves!

Lorian

Who's asking, your solicitor presumably?

Exodi

I don't think there is a set time frame, it is whatever it takes the convince the solicitor the source of the funds is legitimate.

Most people have saved their deposits from their salary, so it's relatively easy to prove you're being paid X amount and Y is left over, which is where the deposit has come from. Therefore many people don't have an issue and only need to provide a few months bank statements/payslips.

However if you have a chunk of money just sitting in an account, it's not really relevant if the money has been sitting there for several months/years/decades, the solicitor needs to be satisfied the source of the funds is clean.

It would obviously be absurd if a money launderer would be able to get around AML regulations by simply leaving the money in the account for more than 3-6 months.

If the solicitors are not convinced, if seen people requested for years of bank statements.

If the source of the funds is from an inheritance, they will just require proof that evidences that.

GixerKate

Lorian said:

Who's asking, your solicitor presumably?

yes, although my parents have already provided bank statements going back years.

GixerKate

Exodi said:

I don't think there is a set time frame, it is whatever it takes the convince the solicitor the source of the funds is legitimate.

Most people have saved their deposits from their salary, so it's relatively easy to prove you're being paid X amount and Y is left over, which is where the deposit has come from. Therefore many people don't have an issue and only need to provide a few months bank statements/payslips.

However if you have a chunk of money just sitting in an account, it's not really relevant if the money has been sitting there for several months/years/decades, the solicitor needs to be satisfied the source of the funds is clean.

It would obviously be absurd if a money launderer would be able to get around AML regulations by simply leaving the money in the account for more than 3-6 months.

If the solicitors are not convinced, if seen people requested for years of bank statements.

If the source of the funds is from an inheritance, they will just require proof that evidences that.

My parents have already provided years and years of bank statements?  My parents weren't the executors of the estate and don't have access to the paperwork, if it still exists from 16 years ago.

Exodi

GixerKate said:

Exodi said:

I don't think there is a set time frame, it is whatever it takes the convince the solicitor the source of the funds is legitimate.

Most people have saved their deposits from their salary, so it's relatively easy to prove you're being paid X amount and Y is left over, which is where the deposit has come from. Therefore many people don't have an issue and only need to provide a few months bank statements/payslips.

However if you have a chunk of money just sitting in an account, it's not really relevant if the money has been sitting there for several months/years/decades, the solicitor needs to be satisfied the source of the funds is clean.

It would obviously be absurd if a money launderer would be able to get around AML regulations by simply leaving the money in the account for more than 3-6 months.

If the solicitors are not convinced, if seen people requested for years of bank statements.

If the source of the funds is from an inheritance, they will just require proof that evidences that.

My parents have already provided years and years of bank statements?  My parents weren't the executors of the estate and don't have access to the paperwork, if it still exists from 16 years ago.

I don't think you understood what I said - the time period is irrelevant, the solicitors is obligated to check the source of the funds.

It doesn't matter whether the funds were from an inheritance yesterday or 16 years ago. Do they have the proof of the original transfer from the executors?

Think of it from their standpoint, I have a lump of money in an account - they need to be convinced I got that money from legitimate sources like inheritance or income or whatever. Proving that I've had the money in an account for a decade or two doesn't prove the money didn't come from my illegal crime ring.

If they don't have the proof, just tell the solicitor that, they can't provide what they don't have - the solicitor may accept that they may not. Alternatively you can look for another solicitor who you hope may be more lax on their responsibilities, but there's no guarantee they wouldn't ask for the same.

FWIW, I agree this solicitor is being excessive.

user1977

GixerKate said:

Exodi said:

I don't think there is a set time frame, it is whatever it takes the convince the solicitor the source of the funds is legitimate.

Most people have saved their deposits from their salary, so it's relatively easy to prove you're being paid X amount and Y is left over, which is where the deposit has come from. Therefore many people don't have an issue and only need to provide a few months bank statements/payslips.

However if you have a chunk of money just sitting in an account, it's not really relevant if the money has been sitting there for several months/years/decades, the solicitor needs to be satisfied the source of the funds is clean.

It would obviously be absurd if a money launderer would be able to get around AML regulations by simply leaving the money in the account for more than 3-6 months.

If the solicitors are not convinced, if seen people requested for years of bank statements.

If the source of the funds is from an inheritance, they will just require proof that evidences that.

My parents have already provided years and years of bank statements?  My parents weren't the executors of the estate and don't have access to the paperwork, if it still exists from 16 years ago.

Then they tell their solicitor that and wait for the next move. I agree it's absurd to suggest it's likely to be anybody else's money if they've been holding it for 16 years - not exactly a fast-moving money-laundering scheme!

In theory the solicitors could then carry on and ask where gran got her money from...you need to draw the line somewhere though.

Albermarle

Sometimes it can be an over zealous junior member of staff. If they object it might get kicked up to someone more senior who would be more sensible.

mills112

they always have to check the original source of the funds, irrespective on how long ago it was.  as it is inherited money, you need to prove that it was inherited.

if you said it was savings then you would need to show evidence of how you were able to accumulate it.

unfortunately they do have to check the original source so your parents need to do some digging.