Stolen Money

[AdviceandHelp56]

Immediate family member passed away a few weeks ago. There was 3 of us as ‘next of kin’ if you like. Only one of us had access to this person regularly and helped them out with finances etc, because everyone lives so far away (over 6 hours).

Now we have all come together and have started going through belongings etc and tying up loose ends. One of these loose ends was bank accounts. Family member had been in a residential care home for quite some time before passing so hadn’t been spending money of their own as such, and had no concept of money or how to spend it anyway because of their health condition.

£6,000 had been spent in a short space of time - supermarket visits (wasn’t him because he was bedbound and had everything supplied by the care home), sporting days out, large purchases such as spa equipment… basically the next of kin who was seeing to him had been spending his money probably right under his nose and without consent.

Next of kin was on their bank account, and it’s proving now that family member has died, that he didn’t consent to this money being spent…

Should I report this? Realistically the money can’t be magicked back but it just makes me so cross that this was all happening. We never suspected a thing, but behind it all he was probably stealing from a very vulnerable person that he was trusted to care for!

Your family member could have agreed to allow the next of kin to spend some money before going into the home. They might have been fine with it.

The next of kin who spent the money is the only one who actually went to see your family member regularly, I would let it go.

My exh fleeced his aged dm out of 40k...
His db went to the police. The will went to court. He still got half of what was left I believe.
Utter cunt.
If he is as Catholic as he claimed I hope he goes straight to Hell.

Whoever is executor needs to account for any discrepancy though

If he was “spending his inheritance early” surely he won’t mind you deducting the amount taken from the account from his share.

I'm assuming that there is £12k left after funeral costs? If so, the two remaining inherited take £6 each.

Just so you are aware - that joint account now belongs absolutely to the surviving account holder and they can empty that account as legally it is theirs. However if it was made a joint account after the dementia diagnosis then you can report it to the bank or building society immediately and they may freeze the account until it has been investigated.

Report to who? Bit of a waste of time I think. If there is a decent inheritance then it probably isn't worth worrying about, just have your share and move on, the stress isn't worth the money unless it's a huge percentage of your inheritance or general income. My brother has had thousands of my parents money, although he didn't take it, he may as well have done but just better to move on sometimes.