Sorting finances for elderly grandma

[mnahmnah]

Hi

Long story short - it was decided yesterday that my grandma needs to go into a home ASAP. She’s 98 and has done amazingly well living in her own home. In a matter of a week or two, she has deteriorated with her eyesight. When we went to see her yesterday, she is suddenly confused too. So it’s all systems go and she moves into the home tomorrow.

We are now faced with sorting her finances and her house, belongings etc. Made harder by the fact that none of us (me, my brother and my Mum) live anywhere near there.

Her paperwork is in pretty good shape for bank accounts, ISA, house insurance etc. We have always known that my grandad had her set up well with two private pensions, stocks and shares. However, we haven’t found any paperwork related to this. Nothing on her bank statements except the state pension going in.

Does anyone know how we can locate these? Or even find out if they exist? None of us have had to deal with anything like this before. Mum went to the bank and discovered it has closed, so can’t get answers there. The nearest one is miles away. Telephone banking requires security and grandma doesn’t use it.

Thanks!

They won’t give you any information unless you have Power of Attorney I’m afraid. She is still alive as well, so there is really nothing else you can do.

Sorry, should have said - both my mum and I have power of attorney. Obviously we need the funds to pay for the home, so need to know exactly how much there is, where it is etc

As far as I’m aware there isn’t any way to find out other than from paperwork or asking her. I am in a similar situation with my mother. I’ve tried to ascertain what’s going on as much as I can now. She is 86.

If she’s suddenly confused, please get her checked out for a UTI - dementia rarely comes on this quickly but whenever my 90 something granny got confused; it was a UTI

You need to lodge the power of attorney with which ever banks you think she has accounts with. As for everything else you don't know, the only way is to go through her house to try to find as much paperwork as possible. At that age, highly unlikely she'll have gone online, so there'll be paperwork somewhere as she'd have got yearly statements/summaries from private pensions, and dividend vouchers etc from shareholdings. When she has more lucid moments, can you not ask her where she keeps her paperwork? From experience, elderly people tend not to throw things away, so there's probably the original paperwork from setting up pensions, buying shares, etc somewhere in the house - have you checked the loft? There is no central "database" of who has what and where, so it's really a matter of doing your own detective work if she can't tell you where it is. Also make sure you have a Royal Mail redirection put in place for future letters etc., so that you catch future correspondence and stop it being binned or returned to sender - I'd suggest at least 2 years!

@Kazzyhoward

Thanks! Her house is actually pretty minimal and she has been very organised. A different folder for each year with things carefully filed. Took very little time to find statements for things. We went through every space in the house yesterday and mum is still there and looking. She will go to the bank branch where we are to lodge the power of attorney. We’re just baffled at the complete lack of evidence for private pensions and stocks, which we had always been told my grandad had set up for her and where she was getting a decent income from. From how much is in her accounts, it certainly isn’t from the state pension alone!

@dreamersdown

Good point! Her doctor was actually getting a urine test done today at the request of the care home

@Ishouldbeoutside

She suddenly didn’t know who we were yesterday. But mum says she is much more lucid today, so hopefully will find out more from her. I think she was overwhelmed with us all visiting.

Her bank statements should say who is paying money into her account - whether that's from a company (pension) or transferred in from other bank accounts she has.

Sometimes, it might just give bank sort codes & acc numbers, but if you Google bank sort code finder, you can type the sort code in & it will tell you the bank it's for. Then I would contact that bank with your power of attorney & ascertain if she's got accounts there too.

Good luck

@OhSnakesandBastards

Brilliant! Thank you! We will definitely try this.

Definitely speak to her bank too, there’s normally references and company names we can give you which should help x

@mnahmnah several suggestions:

• set up post redirect to you or your Mum’s home so you get all correspondence. Over time you will get letters, AGM meeting notifications etc. This will give a clue about accounts etc.
• Did your grandma ever do business electronically? If so regularly check her emails.
• To protect the house from fraud ask Land Registry to put you or your Mum’s email as a contact address on the Land Register (it’s free) https://www.gov.uk/registering-land-or-property-with-land-registry/update-or-correct-the-register You will get an email if anyone tries to sell the empty property.
• Make sure you understand how often you have to stay at the house to ensure the house insurance is valid.

HTH

@Foreversearch

Super helpful! Thank you

Do you know who your grandad worked for? It's possible they were company schemes.

@LawksaMercyMissus

Good point. It was a big industry firm that I think is now extinct. It certainly isn’t in that area anymore. But it’s an avenue to explore. Thanks

www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details