Advice needed

[icowden]

I don't believe I will have a problem with my sister giving it back but want to know exactly where I stand before asking for the shares or whatever to be returned as I am a little cynical when it comes to these things. I want to approach her with a viable plan in place.
My sister left me with the impression that returning the money would not be easy. I shall look for another solicitor

You keep saying that your sister won't have a problem with giving you back the money, but that you also want a solicitor.
Which is it?

To my mind, if you are still resident in the US you need to establish what your position with the IRS is and whether your debt there has been dealt with.
Once that is established you will know whether they will come after you if you have more money.

Other than that, you don't need a solicitor to ask your sister to give you money. That's just a conversation between you and her. You have no legal title to the money, so you are reliant on your sister thinking it's a good idea to give you the cash back.

 

[roadrash]

Regardless of IRS or tax complications which i know nothing about ,I would ask her for the money back, straight out , dont be surprised if she says , but its mine you gave it to me, i also dont understand when you say you had to sign papers saying the money was hers, the very fact that you gave it to her means its hers ,
i feel you are either not telling the whole story, lets be honest you have already told us you lie to help your own situation, or you are indeed a very foolish person , or you think everyone else is. thats just how it comes across to me.

 

[Lozz360]

There are a lot of questions to answer here so rather than address them individually I shall try to clarify the situation as I have to go to work.

When this all happened I was broke ( apart from this inheritance ), semi homeless with very little work and I was drinking way too much, so I was not in a very rational state of mind. I have since got back on my feet, got a good job, paid off all my debts, found an apartment and mostly sobered up.

When the bank found out I am a US resident they told me that they would have to inform the IRS so I panicked and transferred the funds to my sisters account as the IRS had just cleaned out my US bank accounts, if I was a US citizen, which I am not, they would be able to do the same to any overseas accounts of mine too. It was a little over 40K

I don't believe I will have a problem with my sister giving it back but want to know exactly where I stand before asking for the shares or whatever to be returned as I am a little cynical when it comes to these things. I want to approach her with a viable plan in place.

My sister left me with the impression that returning the money would not be easy. I shall look for another solicitor

Thanks all

There are two statements there that I have bolded. They contradict each other. She either has a problem giving you the money back or she hasn't. We have now established that you are or were a US resident but not a US citizen, so money generated from the UK would not be subject to IRS payments (I'm not an expert so please verify this). Also, as you now have paid off all your debts, the US and IRS is an irrelevant complication, no? So you just need to say to your sister, "Thank you for looking after my money, can I have it back now please?" She will either say, 1) "Yes, certainly" or 2) "I'm sorry, it's a bit tricky to do that" or 3) "No way! You gave me the money as a gift. I have the signed forms to prove it!" If the answer is 1) then there is no problem. If the answer is 2) you ask her why and maybe ask for advice again. If the answer is 3) then you need a good lawyer.

 

[Deafie]

This situation is one of a few things that have been on my list of stuff to put in order now that my life is going well. I have just started applying myself to it and am trying to muster my thoughts and options. I will be talking to my sister next weekend if I have time. Asking for the money is no problem, handing over 40 grand is not as easy as it sounds due to the governments concerns about money laundering. I contacted a solicitor thinking we could do it as a loan or some such but he jumped to the conclusion that I wanted to sue her.

I am free and clear with the IRS, I paid them what I owe and all is good. They had no right to take money from my UK bank account as I am a green card holder and not a citizen but that doesn't guarantee that they wouldn't have done it, then I would have had to jump through all kinds of hoops to try and get it back. I mentioned all this originally for context.

I don't think any fraud has been committed, I transferred funds to her and it is now legally hers, she has no legal obligation to return it but I trust her and don't expect an issue. I want to have it under my control because if she dies, then other agents become involved and who knows what might happen then, money can make people ugly.

I was hoping someone here had experience moving cash or shares around. I will figure some thing out.

Thanks all!

 

[Deafie]

i feel you are either not telling the whole story, lets be honest you have already told us you lie to help your own situation, or you are indeed a very foolish person , or you think everyone else is. thats just how it comes across to me.

I told you that I lied?

I have done many foolish things. I try to underestimate no one.

 

[Dag Hammar]

I’ll admit that I read the comments above rather quickly and may have missed something but there is I believe a potential stumbling block that needs to be mentioned and that is the transfer of assets between people.
In the U.K. under HMRC rules one can transfer assets freely between husband and wife ( and I think a civil partnership may also apply ). There are strict rules regarding gifts / transfer of assets other than that mentioned.
To give you one example, I am allowed to give away £3000 in gifts each tax year and any unused allowance can be carried forward into the next tax year. e.g. if I have given my son £1000 this year I can potentially give him £5000 in the next tax year There are other exemptions, for example when a child or grandchild gets married and the amount that you can gift is higher.
Now, here’s something that may specifically apply to the OP. If money is left in a will there are no restrictions on the amount that is left as an inheritance to the beneficiary or beneficiaries. Therefore, if the sister in this case intends to leave the money to her brother in her will after she has died it bypasses many obstacles. And, here’s something else to consider : perhaps the sister now realises, or suspects, that she may have acted in a somewhat fraudulent manner and is concerned that she might get into trouble. If, however, this matter is structured to be resolved after her death then she has nothing to worry about whilst living.
If other readers here think that anything that I’ve written is incorrect in any way I am happy to be corrected accordingly.

 

[All uphill]

This thread rings alarm bells for me.

Possibly reminds me too much of Nigerian princes who need help to get their hands on the money owed to them.

I'm genuinely sorry if that is unfair, and recognise that it could be legitimate, but that's how it comes across to me.

 

[icowden]

This situation is one of a few things that have been on my list of stuff to put in order now that my life is going well. I have just started applying myself to it and am trying to muster my thoughts and options. I will be talking to my sister next weekend if I have time. Asking for the money is no problem, handing over 40 grand is not as easy as it sounds due to the governments concerns about money laundering. I contacted a solicitor thinking we could do it as a loan or some such but he jumped to the conclusion that I wanted to sue her.

No, it is as easy as it sounds. If you and your sister are both British citizens then it's just a matter of her talking to her bank and transferring the money via CHAPS if you want it all at once (£20 fee applies), or in 4 instalments of £10,000 if you want to do it via online banking.

Obviously if she has the money invested, then first she will need time to liquidate the investments and turn them back into cash, so that it can be transferred to you. There is no business involved so the only money laundering checks will be to ensure that your sister really does want to transfer £40k into your bank account.

As @Dag Hammar mentioned the only consideration is that of inheritance tax. The 40k will form part of your sister's estate for inheritance tax evaluation purposes if she dies within 7 years of the transfer. However at present it would form part of her inheritance tax evaluation anyway as it is her money. If she is near the threshold then tax wise her beneficiaries are better off if she transfers the money than not, as the worst case scenario is what it is at the moment.

 

[bikingdad90]

@icowden the faster payment limit is now >100k so could be done via a single payment and not via CHAPS.

 

[Tribansman]

This thread rings alarm bells for me.

Possibly reminds me too much of Nigerian princes who need help to get their hands on the money owed to them.

I'm genuinely sorry if that is unfair, and recognise that it could be legitimate, but that's how it comes across to me.

Agree, has a slight whiff of troll/oddball about it. I too may be wrong but it reads like some other threads where op made inconsistent postings and it turned out it was all a load of shite. Not sure why anyone would waste their time in that way but it takes all sorts I suppose.

 

[Deafie]

This thread rings alarm bells for me.

Possibly reminds me too much of Nigerian princes who need help to get their hands on the money owed to them.

I'm genuinely sorry if that is unfair, and recognise that it could be legitimate, but that's how it comes across to me.

Agree, has a slight whiff of troll/oddball about it. I too may be wrong but it reads like some other threads where op made inconsistent postings and it turned out it was all a load of shite. Not sure why anyone would waste their time in that way but it takes all sorts I suppose.

It is a genuine inquiry, I am just casually asking for advise as I would among friends.
@Tribansman, what inconsistencies?

 

[Deafie]

@Dag Hammer and @icowden, thanks for the helpful replies, I think talking to the bank may be the answer. I admit to have being a little paranoid about all this but now feel much more confident going forward, after all, the money came from a legitimate and verifiable source and nobody has been defrauded

 

[gzoom]

Asking for the money is no problem, handing over 40 grand is not as easy as it sounds due to the governments concerns about money laundering.

No offence but no one is going to investigate you for transferring just £40k.

Most banks will let you transfer £10k a day using the fast payment system online no questions asked, so you could easily transfer the whole amount in 4 days via the phone App. If you wanted to transfer the whole amount in one goal just do an old fashioned bank transfer - but you will have to pay a fee for this.....

Employing a solicitor to oversee the transfer of £40k is mad, they will happily do it am sure and walk away with a £ks for the service .

You are seriously over thinking this if its the transfer bit you are worried about. £40k might be alot of money to you, but to the banks it's pocket change and as such doesn’t warrant any increased security.

 

[vickster]

Although it’s possible the sister may get a call from the bank fraud team to check it’s all legit and she’s not being scammed/coerced (as I did recently when transferring ‘just’ 15k to a new savings bond account).
Just lots of security and questions about my account and activity before they would release the funds.
If the money is held in shares, it may not be the best time to sell them given where the markets are at right now although they may have grown. To note there may be CGT to pay which will deplete what you/she gets

 

[Kingfisher101]

Its rather a strange question to ask on bike forum. OP I think you would be better off asking on the Money Saving Expert Forum really.