Alcoholic brother, due to receive inheritance. How to keep money safe?

pooch90 · 20-11-2025 08:53PM #1

My brother is due a large sum in inheritance. He's been an alcoholic for almost 20 years.

I'm his only useful family but live the far end of the country. He is a very vulnerable person and has agreed that he shouldn't have sole access to this cash.

The idea is that I will hold his cash in trust for him, maybe when he's ready to buy a property, he will do that. The initial plan was to set up a joint account. However, he has no ID and has been incapable of completing the application process for passport or driving licence so that's out.

The solicitor needs to release the money ASAP as they are retiring. They won't advise us for fear of collusion accusations. Other sibling is an a**hole who has burned his bridges with us both but wouldn't be above making accusations. I have been named as sole beneficiary in alcoholic's will.

I'm curious as to what I need to watch out for in relation to protecting both of us, do I just send him to a solicitor? Would a solicitor speak with me in advance so I can explain the situation properly and how vulnerable he is? Am I leaving myself open tax wise or anything else?

This is the final part of a very long, drawn out road since the death of our parent and being the executor of the estate. I'm worn out from all the fighting/heartache/house clearance & sale. I don't have the capacity for much more. Any advice warmly welcome.

Xander10 · 20-11-2025 09:00PM

ideally your parents show have stipulated that his inheritance would be by way of a discretionary trust administered by a responsible person.

in the absence of same, I don't see how the solicitor could legally intervene.

wally1990 · 20-11-2025 09:20PM

Can't speak for current instructions but it's Awkward situation OP

Your brother, suffering from alcoholism for 20 years and currently lacking the capacity for applications!!! clearly falls under the definition of a vulnerable consumer. Any financial professional (including a solicitor dealing with asset management) has a responsibility to accommodate and consider these circumstances.

Relying on informal arrangements or a standard bank account (which is already impossible due to his lack of ID) is highly risky. You must establish a formal legal mechanism, likely a trust, to manage the inheritance on his behalf and protect yourself from future liabilities or accusations of improper handling.

If the money is released to you personally, even if intended for your brother, it risks being treated as a taxable gift from him to you, potentially incurring Gift Tax on the amount exceeding the Class B threshold . Advisers must provide "reasonable arrangements or assistance" to facilitate dealings for vulnerable customers.

You would likely be established as the trustee, holding the legal title to the funds, but your brother would retain thebeneficial ownership(This clearly separates the money from your personal assets, shielding it from claims by other parties (including the hostile sibling) and preventing tax complications for you personally).

The new solicitor would draft the trust document.

This deed would specify how the funds are to be managed (e.g., for property purchase, maintenance, or investment) and the limitations on your power as a trustee, safeguarding your brother's interests due to his vulnerability.

If your brother (the disponer) transfers the funds directly to your personal name (the beneficiary) without a formal trust, this transfer could be treated as a gift. As siblings, you fall under the Group B threshold

pooch90 · 20-11-2025 09:30PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124004761#Comment_124004761

Will was drawn up before his situation became so dire so it's a very straightforward "split equally between my children" will.

Jim_Hodge · 20-11-2025 09:33PM

Go and get a decent solicitor on this.

pooch90 · 20-11-2025 09:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124004818#Comment_124004818

This is the response I was looking for! Thank you.

He's definitely vulnerable in the sense that he's clueless as to how life works because he's had the comfort blanket of the parent and secure roof over his head for so long. Now he's thrust out into reality with no experience of how the world operates.

Good shout on the gift tax, that had occurred to me.

Do you think I'd be ok to ring a solicitor in advance and explain the situation or would they even entertain me, when I'm not "the client"? Or could I approach my own solicitor and act as the client?

ax530 · 21-11-2025 12:23AM

Power of attorney maybe or something like that

Mrs OBumble · 21-11-2025 12:56AM

Google Decision Support Service for info about the current legal situation.

Peregrinus · 21-11-2025 01:03AM

A few thoughts:

What you want here is a discretionary trust, under which someone (you) manages your brother's money for him, and ensures that it is not spent recklessly.
You will need a solicitor to set this up and also to advise on tax issues. There will be a cost to this.
This is your brother's money, and he is the one to make the decision (a) to set up the trust and (b) to have his inheritance paid into it. The costs associated with setting up the trust are his, not yours, to bear, and he can use some of the inheritance to pay them. The cost is not trivial so hopefully it's a large inheritance.
The terms of the trust will give the trustee discretion over what payments to make and when to make them, subject to a requirement that all payments must be to, or for the benefit of, your brother. (If he has dependants — a spouse, children — he can set up the trust on terms that payments can be made to them or for their benefit also.) There'll have to be a provision in the trust document about what happens to the remains of the trust fund when he dies. (Typically, it's paid to his estate.)
The trustee — you — will have a good deal of power and a good deal of responsibility and will not be paid, so this is a noble and self-sacrificing thing to do. As trustee you must act solely in the best interests of your brother [and his dependants] and must disregard any personal interest. There must be no hint of a suggestion that as trustee you are exercising your powers with a view to conserving the trust property so as to maximise your own eventual inheritance.
Keep the trust money rigorously separate from your own money at all times, and keep detailed accounts and records of all transactions with trust money. Keep them forever.
Tax: Irish law discourages the establishment of discretionary trusts and taxes them very disadvantageously. However there are exceptions to cater for (among other things) a trust set up for an improvident individual. or an individual with a substance abuse problem. You want to make sure the trust comes within those exemptions. One of the rules is that you have to get Revenue clearance in advance of setting up the trust, so this is where you need to start.
So, bottom line: your brother needs to instruct a solicitor that he wants to set up a discretionary trust, with you as trustee, to receive and administer his inheritance, and that he wants this done in the most tax-efficient way. There's no reason why you and your brother shouldn't see the solicitor together, but it's important to understand that the solicitor's client is your brother, not you, and the solicitor may want to see your brother separately as well, to satisfy himself that this really is what your brother wants, rather than something he is being steered into by his family.

Victor · 21-11-2025 01:56AM

When my sister was buying a house a long time ago, the former resident had died as an elderly bachelor, leaving his estate to his also elderly sister, who happened to have a husband who 'liked to spend money'.

The house was sold and an annuity pension bought before the husband knew anything.

Alcoholic brother, due to receive inheritance. How to keep money safe?

Comments