Acrimonious will situation

[Lootman]

All the financial institutions that my mother and father had joint accounts with provided a balance for the joint account upon seeing a death certificate. That provided all the information I needed to calculate a IHT liability.

Surely if your parents are married then there would not be an IHT issue upon the first death anyway, at least not arising out of the funds in the joint accounts.

But where IHT is an issue, then merely knowing the balance in the account at the point of death is insufficient. You could get that from a bank statement anyway. And the balance won't tell you the source of funds i.e. how much of that balance was contributed by the two parties.

I don't know how picky HMRC is about this "source of funds" requirement. Maybe in the vast majority of situations they just assume 50% each, or else accept whatever the Executor says. But at the margin the risk of them disputing a 50/50 split isn't zero, I would have thought.

[Chrysalis]

@hiriskpaul, using the LPA does not stop your relative also operating the account. (Not in my experience anyway, but providers can be variable in their approach and understanding).
When you use an LPA and the donor has capacity, you are bound to follow their wishes. Where there are grey areas in terms of capacity you still need to try to determine their wishes when making decisions, if they can are able to understand. Basically it places you in a position of trust.

[hiriskpaul]

@hiriskpaul, using the LPA does not stop your relative also operating the account. (Not in my experience anyway, but providers can be variable in their approach and understanding).
When you use an LPA and the donor has capacity, you are bound to follow their wishes. Where there are grey areas in terms of capacity you still need to try to determine their wishes when making decisions, if they can are able to understand. Basically it places you in a position of trust.

Thanks, that's interesting. If I were to remove myself from the joint account, but obtain an LPA, how would I actually operate the account? For example to make and manage payments? Would I have to use my relative's card and his credentials? That seems fraught with problems. One other advantage of me paying for something is that I can easily chase up problems such as guarantee claims and faulty goods.

I guess the one potentially useful thing I would be able to do with an LPA, which I cannot now, is to gain access to his various savings accounts and his ISA should I need to.

[Lootman]

@hiriskpaul, using the LPA does not stop your relative also operating the account. (Not in my experience anyway, but providers can be variable in their approach and understanding).
When you use an LPA and the donor has capacity, you are bound to follow their wishes. Where there are grey areas in terms of capacity you still need to try to determine their wishes when making decisions, if they can are able to understand. Basically it places you in a position of trust.

Thanks, that's interesting. If I were to remove myself from the joint account, but obtain an LPA, how would I actually operate the account? For example to make and manage payments? Would I have to use my relative's card and his credentials? That seems fraught with problems. One other advantage of me paying for something is that I can easily chase up problems such as guarantee claims and faulty goods.

I guess the one potentially useful thing I would be able to do with an LPA, which I cannot now, is to gain access to his various savings accounts and his ISA should I need to.

When I used a power of attorney to act for my mother (it was an EPA and not a LPA, but I don't think that matters), I was issued with my own separate chequebook and card for the account. So I could perform transactions on my mother's account whilst not preventing her from doing the same.

I just presented the EPA in person at her bank, showed ID, and they sorted it.