Brother has closed bank account my deceased Mother opened for my kids

[54isanopendoor]

My Mother opened a savings account for both of my kids after they were born.
She recently died. Before she did, she gave me a bag of 'bank paperwork' & told me 'you can get a copy of my death cert from your brother & either close or continue the bank a/c in due course, its' up to you'.

My kids are 14 & 17 but both have ASD & little concept of money. My older one gets PIP & I officially deal with DWP re this as he's quite vulnerable otherwise. I have no idea what is in the accounts (I suspect less than £500 each) but I would prefer to keep them going until the kids are 21, which was what was agreed when I wrote to give permission in 2005.

I just got a text from my SIL to say: 'cheques for kids in post, sent registered'.
Can my Brother close these accounts & send cheques like this with no say at our end?

I hadn't looked at the paperwork but I just did & its a mix of 2 kids accounts & another one of hers. The two kids accounts don't have an amount or a whole account number. So, I don't suppose the bank will speak to me about it.

I'm assuming the accounts were in your mothers name, and that DB is executor?

Was the account held in trust for the children or opened in their names?

Sorry for your loss OP, I assume he's the executor?

If the children can only access the money themselves at 18 then it may not be possible to keep the accounts open until then if your mum was the trustee/account holder in their name because they are under age. I'd ask the bank the accounts are held with to be sure, just as a general query about children's accounts rather than those specific ones.

The bank wouldn't have allowed the accounts to continue after your mother's death. Assuming brother is executor, he has acted correctly.

Use the cheques to open new accounts for them which you manage until they’re older.
Would that be an option?

The Account paperwork is titled: 'Mrs H, Ttee for Miss X / Master A'
I assume accounts for kids but 'in her name' as I have with my bank too?

As may be obvious, I don't trust Brother as he has behaved badly re money imo.

My Mother died intestate. Said for years that she wanted things to 'be divided equally between all 4 grandchildren'. There is NO money, nothing except the house. Her 88 year old husband still lives there & may well need to sell it for his care in the future. But my Brother already told me that he 'will move Dad in with me & house will stay in MY family'. My mother also had £4K saved for her funeral & was buried in a £900 unattended Cremation which was just awful.

If she died intestate I'm amazed B was able to do this. Did she grant him PoA without you knowing?

I have a copy of the letter I wrote giving permission for the account to be opened. It says that his Grandparents will open & manage an account for child. They will keep the paying in book but give us details of the account & he will be given access to it age 21.
So, given Grandad is still alive, why is SIL closing the account & texting me: 'cheque in the post' ?

@Yodaisawally
I don't know? It's possible that is what Dad wants.
It's also entirely possible he is being leaned upon?
All I know is what was agreed years ago.
And what my Mother told me 4 weeks ago before she died.
Neither of which was: the account will be closed & kids sent (unspecified) cheque. If it wasn't for the other things I'd maybe not be too fussed. But the rest of it stinks so I wonder if this does too.

It also occured to me that perhaps I should refuse / not cash the cheques as Brother might say this was kids 'accepting their share' IF there is anything to divide in future times? I guess I'd need a lawyer to tell me that?

My Mother told me she had not made a will but that 'if **needed anything to ask my Brother'. I pulled a face & she said: 'I know you have 2 disabled kids / no husband now / house falling down etc' Brother will help, dont' worry & kids will get their share in due course'

I don't have any faith in that being true.

I'm sorry for your loss.

I'm also confused as to how your brother has managed to do this when your father is still alive. My understand is as your mum died without a will all would go to your dad. Maybe talk to him if he is up to it? In the bag of letters are there any bank statements?

@goodmorningpenguin
I'm not sure Dad is up to it, no (he can get quite confused at times & isn't coping with the death at all)
There is a statement for an account in my Mums name only (£4.5K which is what she told me she'd saved for her funeral, so who knows who has that)
No statements at all for kids accounts but everthing else for 15 years (letters re interest rate changes, paying in books, all genearl bumpf, all envelopes etc. but no statements at all)

Your Dad's name wasn't on the account though, (Mrs H, Ttee for Miss X / Master A) so they must have opening the account in mum's name only and closing it on her death is the only possible action.

There may well be things amiss with how things have been handled overall, but there's nothing wrong here.

If she died intestate, anything remaining after the funeral was paid for will go to her husband. The house was probably owned as joint tenants, so her share would go to the other owner. Even if it was tenants in common, her share would go to her husband, unless the estate was more than £270k in total.

What happens next is down to her husband. You seem determined to make this all brother's fault and maybe he hasn't behaved well, but things do seem in order from a legal pov. Sadly, if mum didn't want this she should have written a will.

It sounds right, same has happened to us recently with children's accounts in one grandparents name. The bank closed the accounts and sent a cheque payable to the child. The account could not be transferred to another adult (other grandparent) or kept open. Your brother is correct on that one although I'm not sure about the rest of it.

Could you just not open new accounts and put the cheque in them

Well if the cheque's been issued by the bank in your child's name I don't see how he's fiddled it. If he sends a personal cheque from his account that might raise alarm bells.

thanks for replies.
yes it seems the accounts were opened in my Mother's name only rather than in my child's name (which is what I had understood from years ago).
Therefore it seems the account must be closed upon her death, I get that.

I'm not sure if the money 'should' come direct from the bank to the kids though?
Or could be paid to Dad & a cheque sent from him?
what would be normal in these circs?

I assume my Mother didn't write a Will. I assume my Brother is not leaning on Dad. But I don't know either of those things. Dad is 88 & confused (was recently in hospital after collapsing, is due an MRI / unwell) so who knows.

The accounts will have had to be closed, no choice in the matter. The cheques can only have been issued in your children's names, the bank are not allowed to give the money to anyone else, so just open them new accounts with you as trustee.

The accounts were in your children's names, with mother as trustee. They have to be closed with funds paid to the beneficiaries because the trustee is deceased. If they were only in mother's name, the balance would go to her husband, unless a different provision had been made in a will.

@DelilahBucket
thank you that is very helpful to know.
I'm glad that this bit is straightforward at least.

I wasn't possible for the accounts to be opened only in DC's names.

@54isanopendoor best of luck dealing with it. Losing your mum is hard enough without dodgy siblings involved.

I think you need to

• ask your brother if she left a will, and ask for a response in writing. You can also search Wills online but not till Probate is given


• ask your Dad directly if he has a Will, and whether it reflects your mum's wishes that their joint estate be divided equally between the GC (I think you said that was your understanding?)


• If he doesn't have a Will, pay for him to make one either with a solicitor or using a DIY pack. I'd do the former as the solicitor will do a capacity test at that time for your Dad's capacity at the time of the Will being written
  


• This sounds awful, but I would try and avoid having a NHS capacity test yet if poss as your brother sounds like a bit of a piece of work and could use it to claim that your father wasn't able to make a will.

Having said all this, if your father doesn't have a will his estate will be divided between you and your brother. Unless your brother gets him to sign it over to him while he's living there...

I think the above assumption is complicated by the fact your dad is legally your step-dad, and brother is his only legal child, your half-brother. (According to another thread you have running.) I hope it turns out that either your mum or dad have valid wills to include you and/ or your children.

As long as he sends you the money. I don't see the issue.

@hedgehoglurker
yes given my Mother lied on my birth cert & I've been told various stories then it's not clear if I'm his child or not (prob not legally but was raised as so a mess).
I didn't include all this bit as I'd hoped the kids savings accounts were straightforward. It seems that they are so at least thats something.
I was maybe seeing 'complications/unpleasantness' where there are none but given the backstory its not surprising I'm not very trusting of Brother / SIL esp.