Parental Responsibility And Care Of Under 18 Inheritance

[iloveglee]

Some friends of ours have a real dilemma.  We keep telling them that they really should engage the benefit of a solicitor, but they just keep asking questions so I thought at least some of the legal eagles on here might have an inkling, even if its just 'get legal advice'

Our friend's daughter died, suddenly and rather tragically a couple of years ago leaving a 15 year old son, a house, car and some insurances, plus an insurance in trust, with herself and her sister as trustees.  But no will and bad terms between her ex partner, the child's dad, and her family.

Since the father has parental responsibility, ergo he has got administration responsibility for the estate.  He seems to not be making a very good job of this, i.e. not managing the house to the best he can, and no one in the mothers side of the family know what's happening with everything else. 

The son went, unwillingly to live with his father, this has not worked out and the father has put him into the care of the local authority.  He is 17 so in reality this just means finding him somewhere safe to live.  None of his mothers family are able to have him live with them, although they are more than happy to have him live independently nearby with support from them. 

Now the father is sending solicitors letters out to the effect that the insurance money that's in trust, trustees are now the sister as before, and the deceased person's father.  I am under the impression that anything in trust is for the trustees to decide what happens to it.  They have made provision for this to be paid to the son, but when he is older than 18, as he does have some slight learning difficulties so managing that, plus he will automatically have a house and whatever else there is at 18.

These friends, and the rest of their family, some of whom are also our family as there is a contact with them by marriage, are tearing their hair out.  They are making the assumption that the father is going to somehow take everything from the son, or at the very least is not managing the estate in his son's best interests.  This has been confirmed in their heads now he has asked for his son to be removed from his home. I have said the two things have nothing to do with each other, parents who can't cope with a recalcitant teen do this all the time.  I freely admit I felt like doing it with one of my kids at the time.  

Any insights or advice is very welcome.  Get legal advice being, I don't doubt, the most prominent of these.  

[DDIL]

They have to get legal advice, there is too much at stake not least a vunerable child.

[iloveglee]

I agree, they really do need legal advice, and we keep re-iterating it every time we see or speak to them.  Even though this child is 17, he is vulnerable in many ways. 

The problem they have as a family, they make assumptions as to what is going on with the father and the estate, and because they believe something is the case, ergo it's true.  It may be true, it may not and because there is no dialogue between them, no one really knows the actual truth. 

I believe that financial mismanagement (if indeed this is happening), of a minor's inheritance is also a child protection issue.  Now he is under the care of the local authority, this seems like a good time to raise this issue with them.  Even so, anything which might relate to the family court, well you definitely need legal advice.