Possible theft from vulnerable person's bank account

[2024please]

I'm an Executor for my deceased parent's estate. On checking bank statements, as per Probate guidance, I've noticed a few strange chq payments and I'm not sure if I need to do anything.

It transpires that 2 'gifts' of equal amounts were made to 2 people (one a family member and one an adult Stepchild) then another for the same amount was made to the SC 6 mths later.

I spoke with the deceased the day before the final gift was made & they were very, very confused. I'm finding it hard to believe they were in control of their finances and am not sure if they were tricked. 🫤

Said adult SC wasn't close to the deceased, hadn't seen them for years & hadn't ever been gifted money of that amount from the deceased before.

The total of the gifts adds up to the yearly amount that can be gifted without tax liability, so a chunk of money in total.

All the 'gifts' were made after the vulnerable person had been certified 'severely mentally impaired' by their GP, although the certificate wasn't issued until a year later, and was issued to obtain reduced Council Tax, I believe.

Do I need to do anything?

I don't know about this from a legal pov, but I suspect it would be hard to prove anything now, and probably better to let sleeping dogs lie.

From your description it a ounds like it's maybe £3k in total gifted to the stepchild and £1.5 to the other person - and it would cost a lot more than that to take them to court for it.

It's 3k in total I was thinking more about reporting it to the bank/police.

As you say yourself , you don’t know if they were tricked into writing the cheques . Your parent by virtue of being very confused may have written them or at least signed them , but the recipients aren’t going to admit anything . There isn’t really anyway to prove your suspicion.
You could request copies of the cheques from the bank . If the cheques were written by the recipients but just signed by your parent , it would possibly open up a conversation to be had with the payees . Honestly I’m not sure how much that will help you though.
Unless of course your parent did not sign them , if the signature is someone’s else’s , then you have a case . ( Banks don’t signature match all cheques that go through the system )

Yeah, I have requested copies of the cheques.

I know the person was likely tricked but it will be difficult to prove. The deceased actually forgot it was one of their own DC's birthday, which was the same day the last chq was written, that's how bad their cognition was at that point and I am pretty angry they were taken advantage of, especially as the recipient of 2/3 of the amount didn't even come to the deceased's funeral. 'Too far' apparently. 🙄

The chqs will be written by someone else, the stub is and the deceased could barely sign their name at that point. Really not a legible signature, so that copy chq will be interesting when it arrives.

Absolutely disgusting and I will be asking some pertinent questions.

If the cheques have been clearly forged then you might be able to do something, but if signed by the owner of the account it would be pointless.

I don't think they'll be forged but the deceased was tricked, of that I'm sure.

But you can't prove that. The deceased person isn't here any more and the stepchild is hardly going to admit it, I wouldn't imagine (though you might know better).

If it was £30k I could see it more. But for £3k - what are you going to do? I know it's the principle of what [you think] has happened, but for that sum it's not worth all the stress, unpleasantness and upset, trust me.

You are correct, it is probably impossible to prove but that doesn't mean the culprit shouldn't be challenged. What they did is wrong and morally reprehensible and quite possibly illegal.

I am not prepared to sweep it under the carpet without confrontation.

It's neither of the recipients who have written the cheques, someone else has, which makes it even worse imo.

Given that the people involved didn’t have POA, ( and would be reportable to the OPG for mismanagement) there seems little to no hope of getting anywhere with this.

If they did this, they are scum but realistically they will get away with it.

The person who wrote the chqs & ensured the SC got twice as much as the actual family member of the deceased should not have had their sticky fingers anywhere near the deceased's account. 😡