FIL just come out of intensive care - his finances - help please

[girlsmum]

Hi, FIL taken ill suddenly back on 14th Aug. We contacted his bank account No. 1 who froze his account.

His bank account No. 2 wouldn't do this, they required a copy of a sick note, which the hospital has only just given us. In the meantime bank account No. 2 has just gone overdrawn and charged my FIL penalties. Am going to fax a copy of his sick note tomorrow, along with a cover note.

The advice I need is, whether to ask bank account No. 2 to freeze his account. My Husband has just pointed out FIL is due to retire in Dec and he may have DD's going out to his pension companies that we would hate for him to miss. Maybe we should pay in a couple of hundred pounds to cover them for a little while.

This opens the possibility of 'unfreezing' bank account No. 1 and paying money in there too.

The main question then is; do we freeze his bank accounts or keep them active?

Also, could we claim sick benefit for him? How could we go about this? Also, we can't seem to find his NI number.

Sorry to ramble on, thanks for your help, lots of questions I know.

Have you spoken to his employers? If he is still working (as per your comment of retiring in December) then he will probably have been paid at least until 14 Aug? And depending on his company's policies, he may get quite a period when he is still being paid. However, if his company only pay SSP, then he will at least be getting a small amount of money, but that is something his employers should organise, not something that you have to do. Unless he is coming to live with you and you are going to become his carers, I do not think there is anything else you could claim at the moment. You presumably have access to his house and papers if you have been looking for an NI number so you should be able to see from a bank statement what regular payments are leaving the account and how much is needed to cover those for the coming months. Also his NI number would be on his payslip?

How is FIL now? Is he in a position to do much himself?

Do you have power of attourney (or whatever it is called now) so can deal with finances for him? If not, and FIL is mentally abale, might be worth having this drawn up by a solicitor as it makes life easier.

Hi, FIL is self-employed.

Yes we have access to his house and papers and will be paying money in tomorrow to cover DD's, therefore presumably best to keep his accounts active.

FIL only just come round and not really in a state to have anything drawn up by a solictor and to be honest it's not something his family would want. We are hoping 4 - 6 weeks and he'll be home to recover.

GM. You need osome advice about this. You may need to get a Deputy appointed by The Public Guardian Office. If he is not capable then the accounts are automatically frozen and you could be in trouble if you try and deal with them youself.

Cat me if you need any advice.

MP