What happens to your assets if you go to prison as an eldery person & will likely die inside?

[Maybesunshineafterall]

• due to the length of sentence? Not for a financial crime, so assets unlikely to be seized for that. Is it down to the prisoner what happens? & what if they have no-one to act on their behalf on the outside?

I world imagine if they had no family/friends and no one to act on their behalf they would need to pay someone to do it for them, solicitor?

Do they have a will?

Bumping for the evening crowd

No idea about a will

Why would it be any different for a prisoner to anyone else?

I can’t see why age makes a difference

If you die in prison, what happens to your assets? Presumably whatever is set up in the person’s will. If they don’t have a will, I don’t know. Does the spouse or next of kin inherit automatically?

Maybe post in the legal section?

If they don’t have a will, I don’t know

Surely the normal intestacy laws would apply. I don't see how it's materially different to them being in a hospital or care home.

Makes no difference if they are in prison. Why would it?

Well if law abiding citizens are obliged to use their assets for elderly or other social care, and are penalised for giving it all away whilst alive as in depletion of assets, why should prisoners not contribute also for their care where they can afford to?

Otherwise, it would make sense for elderly infirm etc. to just commit a crime, and be kept at Her Majesty's pleasure, and their assets remain intact for their heirs.

Sorry, that's a controversial comment I know.

But I actually don't know what happens if a person of means is sent down and then dies whilst in prison either. Interesting question.

You don't pay for your stay in prison. You're there at someone else's behest, not yours.

Very often the elderly and the infirm are living in nursing homes at someone else's behest not theirs either. They pay for it, but criminals do not.

Just an interesting question anyway.

Do you mean whilst they are still alive? I guess nothing would happen to them unless it was requested by them and then they would have to get someone to do it on their behalf.

That is a bloody good point Outsomnia - maybe we'll have a run of Gangsta Grannies as a way of ensuring rightful inheritance!

The assets are dealt with as any other person, according to their will or if intestate.
I read an article on BBC news website some time ago that said Japan IIRC was having a problem with some elderly people committing crime in order to go to prison, because they didn’t have the means to live ‘outside’, and prison was a more civilised place than the alternative. Very sad state of affairs.

Oh for the love of God only on mums net would someone compare prison to an old people's home.

In all seriousness, someone would have to do something bad to get any kind of sizeable prison sentence, let alone if they were elderly or in ill health. So going on the take in Waitrose isn't quite going to cut it.

Fatted,

You may have misunderstood. The point being made was that those who do NOT commit any crime have to pay for their care in Nursing Homes and the like, thus depleting the assets available to their heirs.

Criminals do not and yet are being cared for through our taxes.

Seems a bit skewed to me.

The point being made about Gangsta Grannies and the like was to me anyway made in jest, with a lot of truth behind it, as a pp said about elderly in Japan.

You cannot dismiss every comment just because you think MN is a total coven of witches or something!

There is usually someone who deals with this when the person enters prison. Often they work for the charity Shelter.

The difference between someone going into a care home and going into prison is that a care home is for the benefit of the people in it whereas a prison is for the benefit of the people outside it. That probably makes quite a big difference in terms of who should be funding it.

Yet the incarcerated criminal (assuming they have a lot of assets), can leave their estate intact, whilst the person in the care home cannot. Meanwhile we the taxpayer pay for the prisoner's care in prison too. Double whammy IMV.

Some prisoners make arrangements before sentencing hearings if they're on bail, some put their heads in the sand and end up with a huge mess to deal with, some solicitors help out, there's very little support available from within prison to sort all this. All prisoners will have a probation officer on the outside and a personal officer in prison who usually try to do their best, but are mostly hideously over-loaded and just don't have time to deal with stuff that's not directly related to risk or welfare.

If it looks like somebody is going to die in prison or while serving a sentence the prison Chaplain will be directly involved. Most prisoners do not have much of value in possession because of the risk of stealing. If they are incapacitated they may be sent to an outside hospital with or without escort depending on the risk assessment. If they have no relatives then any assets revert to the crown.

Outsomnia

That is a really interesting point.

Otherwise, it would make sense for elderly infirm etc. to just commit a crime, and be kept at Her Majesty's pleasure, and their assets remain intact for their heirs.

I'm going to assume you've not been elderly/ infiirm/ disabled in prison? They don't have care homes Inn prison, they aren't design for non-mobile, non-able people. They cells aren't large enough for equipment needed and there isn't staffing for sufficient care, nowhere near (I should now, I organise it for the prison in my authority). If you think community care and care homes are poor, trying being elderly in prison.