My sister is in a coma, how do I gain access to her bank account to pay her bills??

[GH1982]

My little sister is in a coma. At present we have no reason to believe she won't wake up and live a relatively normal life. She has a bank loan and credit card which have ppi, how do i activte this. Also I need to gain access to her bank account so that I can make arrangements for her bills etc to be paid. What do I do???? Worth noting that she has no assets etc.I am based in the UK

[boxtops]

I don't think you can, without her authority, unless you have some sort of power of attorney? There is nothing to stop you contacting her bank and her credit card to notify them of the situation though. I don't think you can claim the ppi, the policyholder has to do that - you would need to ask the credit card company (if they will talk to you, as it's not your account).

[boxtops]

Duplicate post, more answers on the other one http://www.theanswerb...e/Question977763.html

[what..the?]

Have you not the money to pay the bills, i.e. send them a cheque from your account with her payment slips or ask for a reference?

[GH1982]

No I can't afford to do this on an ongoing basis, I wish it was that easy. Her landlord is being difficult, believe it or not!

[cassa333]

You will have to see a solicitor or cab and get a power of atterny for her.

If you are to save her home etc then you need to do this as quickly as you can.

Believe it or not landlords often need the rent money to pay the morgage or other outgoings so unfortunate as her situation is other peoples lifes goe on. What happens if your sister doesn't wake up for 6 months? Does she have enough cash to pay the rent for that long? or for a year or more?


Get to the solicitor for a temerary power of atterny to get interum bills paid and then review it if she doesn't recover.

[dzug2]

You cannot get power of attorney in this situation - it has to be given by your sister, obviously not possible. (Unless she already has one?? Often done at the same time as a will - then whoever is named just has to register it)

What you need is to apply to the Court of Protection for Deputyship - you don't have to use a solicitor but it will be easier if you do. It will take (and I'm being optimistic here) several months. It's effectively a power of attorney under another name

You need to contact the organisations she has dealings with - but don't be surprised if many of them refuse to talk to you on data protection grounds.

[themas]

So far as the ppi is concerned, there is nothing to stop you from contacting the companies & getting the necessary claim forms. If they are then completed and the medical people in charge of her care (consultant or GP) write a letter confirming the circumstances the companies should accept this and pay out. In my view, if they did not you would have valid grounds for formal complaint ot their regulator.

Does she have any income at all? If not, it should be possible to claim some benefits, including Housing Benefit to help with the rent. This will not be easy because normally the claims have to be made by the person but, as with the above, a claim ought to be accepted in this situation with the written confirmation of her consultant etc. You should contact Job CentrePlus & the local authority where she lives, or else go to your local CAB & see if they can help.