Is it possible to open a savings account for a niece/nephew and stop the parents from accessing it?

Enter Username Here

I have an alcoholic sibling that has already spent their childs savings twice. First, their communion money and more recently emptied their entire money box, that was not their childs property (which was made clear) to touch, even though a few of us had been using it to save for the child.
Well over €3000 altogether.

The point is, that my sibling (the parent of the child) cannot be trusted with access to any money, and not the childs. The money box was my idea, which wasn't great looking back, as we had told the child that the money was for them but not until they are 18 or older. Until that time it is not theirs.

Anyway, I wanted to open a Credit Union account in the childs name, but I was told by the CU that is no longer possible "thanks to the criminals". A parent has to be directly involved in setting that up, and all other financial institutions would be the same.

Is there any possible other way to do it?

Prize Bonds - The parent could get hold of them.

Money Box that the child doesn't know about - If anything was to happen to me for example, the parent might gain access to it.

Looking for a way to save, so that it cannot be touched until the child is possibly over 21 and will be able to look after the money themselves, and will hopefully know what to do with it with some guidance maybe.

TherapyBoy

My parents did something like that for one of their Godchildren years ago. The account was in the child’s name, my parents could put money into the account for them whenever they wanted (Christmas/birthdays/etc) but there was no atm card for the account & the money could only be withdrawn by the Godchild when they turned 18. When they were of age my parents had their names removed from the account & the money (& the account) went to the child. The account was initially set up when the child was very young though.

Best make an appointment & talk to someone in the bank about it 👍🏼

HeidiHeidi

Could you not just open an account in your name, with the intention of handing it over to the child at a time of your choosing? And make provision in your will that they get that money if the worst was to happen to you.

Enter Username Here

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124011002#Comment_124011002

Thanks, that would be ideal, but the conversation with the lady in the CU, gave me the impression that it used to be possible until about 8 years ago, but is no longer.

I will be checking monday anyway, thanks.

After the conversation with her though, I am not too optimistic and hoping there is some sort of alternative. Should anything happen to me, I wouldn't like to add a savings vault type area to my own bank account. But it could be a last resort.

Enter Username Here

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124011011#Comment_124011011

Yeah, I have thought of that, but I would need to make a will or something (should anything happen to me) which would include that saving account being separated somehow. It sounds like it could be a little messy when other things are taken into account, but I will look at that as an option on monday when talking with somebody. Thanks.

piplip87

You could look at opening a trust account whereby you are the trustee and your nice/nephew are the beneficiaries and within the deed of trust say it cannot be accessed by them until they turn 21.

You can also set up the trust, invest as the trust if the child is young so the funds are growing and not being eaten away with inflation.

Also the trust will be legally recognised and if something where to happen to you, you could will whatever you wanted to the trust.

stargazer 68

I'm in the Health Service CU and looked at doing the same (although not for the same reason) and was told the parents/guardian needed to sign and supply id etc. So I never got any further!