Mother & Money

Sandy Wright

New member
Jul 19, 2019
1
0
Hello all, my mum has dementia and I have LPA, Ive had a letter from the bank sayiing her money is not protected over a certain amount, which she has over that, not sure if i / and my brothher can take money as gift.
Not sure what can legally do
 

Louise7

Volunteer Host
Mar 25, 2016
4,689
0
Welcome. Money in banks/financial institutions is protected up to £85,000. If your Mum has more than that you can open an account elsewhere to put the balance in. As attorneys you need to be careful about gifting yourself money, and in this case the simple solution is to move some of the money to a different financial institution, which you will be able to do as attorneys.
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,075
0
Bury
Neither you nor your brother can take any money as a gift.

Your mother has over the £85000 FSCS limit, any excess is not protected if the bank fails.

You can move the excess (+a bit) to a different bank.

Note that the limit is per banking licence not bank, this means that , for instance Halifax and Lloyds have a shared limit.

To decide where to put the money have a look around comparison sites eg https://savingschampion.co.uk/best-buys/
 

prodigal-son

Registered User
Feb 1, 2019
45
0
If you don't think the bank is likely to go bust in the foreseeable future, you could just ignore it – especially if your mother is not much above the protected limit and is paying for care.

On the other hand, £85,000+ is a lot of money to be sitting around doing nothing, so if she doesn't need the money urgently you could invest it. Good advice from @nitram above, but a market-based fund would do better than a bank or building society.

The only difficulty with the latter is that as attorneys you should probably take professional financial advice first, and the adviser will want to know your mother's attitude to risk. Try to find someone who'll work for a small flat fee rather than the usual 0.5%+ per year for doing essentially nothing.
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,075
0
Bury
Markets based funds may not be a good idea, they are best considered long term. £85000 does not last long in a self funding residential care situation, dementia can suddenly progress causing care fees to increase.

Also note that an attorney can only ask for advice, discretionary investment is not allowed.

Personally I would go for a suitable mix of term and notice accounts plus an interest paying current account.
 

Beate

Registered User
May 21, 2014
12,179
0
London
You cannot gift yourself money but you can move money in her name around to get her the best deal and ensure that not more than £85,000 sits with the same financial institution. Some belong together like HSBC and First Direct so do your homework.
 

Sirena

Registered User
Feb 27, 2018
2,324
0
Markets based funds may not be a good idea, they are best considered long term. £85000 does not last long in a self funding residential care situation, dementia can suddenly progress causing care fees to increase.

Also note that an attorney can only ask for advice, discretionary investment is not allowed.

Personally I would go for a suitable mix of term and notice accounts plus an interest paying current account.

I completely agree. My mother's money was all invested in the markets via a financial advisor, and last year after a discussion with him I disinvested the whole lot. As he said, the markets were fairly volatile, I needed the money at particular relatively short term points to pay for her care, and in the short term there could be a 20% downward fluctuation. I wanted to know how much money she had, and that it was readily available for her changing care needs.
 

prodigal-son

Registered User
Feb 1, 2019
45
0
£85000 does not last long in a self funding residential care situation, dementia can suddenly progress causing care fees to increase.

Absolutely.

Also note that an attorney can only ask for advice, discretionary investment is not allowed.

Do you mean an attorney must ask for, and follow, professional advice rather than making investment decisions off their own bat? That sounds absolutely right. Can you suggest anywhere we could read more about this?
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,075
0
Bury
An attorney cannot invest in any discretionary investment, they cannot divest the power.

They have a duty to act in the donor's best financial interests, how they do this is up to them.

With an LPA the COP will only be involved if alerted to malpractice (Deputyship is different)

There is no compulsion to seek professional advice.

There are posts on DTP where professionals have given incorrect advice usually because they advised locking the funds for a period of time which can be construed as deliberate deprivation of assets in any LA financial assessment.

Any attorney seeking advice should be careful of who they choose, maybe running the advice through DTP. No members can give advice, they can however relate their experience and state legal facts.
 

prodigal-son

Registered User
Feb 1, 2019
45
0
An attorney cannot invest in any discretionary investment, they cannot divest the power.

You obviously know your onions, and here's the view (in 2017) of a firm that does likewise. This came as a shock to me.


They have a duty to act in the donor's best financial interests, how they do this is up to them.

You would think, wouldn't you, that that would mean the attorney could trust a professional fund manager, especially if the donor had themselves invested in that fund when they had capacity. But I agree that seems not to be the case. So we have two essentially conflicting rules.

I assume a tracker fund is not a discretionary investment?

There are posts on DTP where professionals have given incorrect advice usually because they advised locking the funds for a period of time which can be construed as deliberate deprivation of assets in any LA financial assessment.

That's an interesting point.
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,075
0
Bury
A tracker fund in itself is not discretionary.

Whether it's volatility is appropriate is another matter.
 

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