Advice about Cheques and inheritance

Amanda1970five · 15 August 2018 at 1:10PM

Hello !

.. advice welcomed about where to bank Cheques

I sold a house I inherited .

My younger kids are are 14 and 12, inherited just short of 19k and entitled to it at age 25y.

imy older child is 23 in sept, entitled to hers at 25y and has just short of 28k. She wants to use this for a house deposit.

I have around 100k. A mortgage of 60k outstanding currently.

My money is just in a deposit account at hsbc who I bank with.

The children’s Cheques I couldn’t bank as they say payable to
My name trustee for child’s name
HSBC said they couldn’t bank them . Who will ?

I don’t know whether I should pay my mortgage off - will this affect my tax credits ? And I don’t know about how to invest a possible 30k. I have no pension scheme.
In my divorce settlement - I got the house and he got his pension.

Any advise is welcomed .

Thank you. A x

JuicyJesus · 15 August 2018 at 3:28PM

The children!!!8217;s Cheques I couldn!!!8217;t bank as they say payable to
My name trustee for child!!!8217;s name
HSBC said they couldn!!!8217;t bank them . Who will ?

You'll need to either get the cheques reissued in a different name, or open an account in trust for the child - your bank should be able to assist with this, especially as it's a big high street bank like HSBC. It's not a common thing, but it's certainly possible. Be prepared to look elsewhere, however.

I can't answer your question about tax credits. For your investments, your best option is to speak to an IFA who can advise you on what best to do with these - there are some IFAs on MSE who can give general advice (not specific to your situation or "financial advice") as such, I'd suggest posting on the Savings and Investments board for that.

James145 · 15 August 2018 at 3:29PM

Who paid the cheque to you? If you are the trustee for your children, you have a legal obligation to safeguard the monies for them, so they should have no issue with making the cheques payable to you personally.
You could invest some of your money in a stocks and shares ISA or a pension (depending on your current pension provision), but I would read up on investing if you aren't comfortable with making a choice youself yet.
I can't see how paying off your mortgage would affect any tax credits you currently receive, as your income would be unaffected.

ValiantSon · 15 August 2018 at 4:23PM

Amanda, is the money for your children held in bare trust? If so, then they have a right to take full control of the money at 18, not 25. It doesn't matter what the will says, case law has established this right. Your 23 year old daughter, therefore, already has absolute right to the inheritance. The younger children will gain that right when they attain the age of 18. (Solicitors and will writers really should stop putting these clauses into wills as they are unenforceable and misleading to their clients).

Who issued the cheques? As you are the executor, you should have control of the total inheritance and be dispersing it according to the instructions in the will (accepting that any conditions about children reaching the age of 25 are null and void). If the cheques have been issued by a solicitor then ask them to re-issue in the name of the children.

You can open savings accounts in the children's names where you are the trustee. Your 23 year old daughter is well above the age of majority, so you can't do this for her, but instead she can simply pay the cheque (issued in her name) into any account that she holds.

Tax credits are related to income, so paying off your mortgage is irrelevant. You can pay the mortgage off without worry.

If you wish to invest £30,000 in stocks and shares then you have two main routes. You can either consult an independent financial adviser, or take a DIY approach. Using an IFA will cost more, and on £30,000 I wouldn't consider it a worthwhile option. I would recommend that you read up a little bit on DIY investing, and consider just using a multi-asset fund like Vanguard LifeStrategy or HSBC Global Strategy (there are others). Have a read of the following websites to start to get some idea of how these work.

http://monevator.com/category/investing/passive-investing-investing/

http://diyinvestoruk.blogspot.com/

It would also make the most sense to use an ISA for your investments so as to avoid ever payin tax on dividends or capital gains. The annual ISA limit is £20,000, so you won't be able to invest it all in one go, but assuming you haven't used any of your ISA allowance so far this year, you could invest £20,000 now and the remaining £10,000 on 6th April 2019. In the meantime, keep the uninvested ammount in a decent interest paying current, or savings, account.

xylophone · 15 August 2018 at 4:24PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=74663335#post74663335

Trust accounts discussed above.

Your tax credits query could be put on the benefits board.

You say that you have no pension scheme - your employer does not offer a pension?

If you are not employed and have no relevant earnings, you could still pay up to £2880 per annum into a pension and receive tax relief of £720.

A basic stakeholder might suit for this.

https://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/stakeholder-and-personal-pensions/aviva/

If you are holding the £30,000 as an emergency fund you might wish to obtain as much interest as possible.

You might wish to look at interest paying current accounts and/ or at savings accounts.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts-

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1583859/Best-savings-rates-General-savings-Internet-branch.html

Amanda1970five · 15 August 2018 at 7:10PM

Thank you everyone for your long and detailed replies. I will read everything again carefully and look into where I can bank the Cheques or I!!!8217;ll ask for them to be reissued.

Thank you so much

Advice about Cheques and inheritance

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