Receiving a large cash gift from family abroad

[solari]

Obviously she'd put her Turkish address on the letter of gift.If the money is transferred to a UK bank account ( and accepted) it's likely to satisfy any questions from a solicitor anxious about MLR.

Agreed but... surely if it were that simple then criminals engaging in money laundering would just do the same thing and get away with it easily. It's not hard to make up a random person in another country and pretend they're you're family member and write the letter yourself.

Is it really enough to just do that? Lol genuinely concerned...

[pawncob]

If it's genuine you have nothing to fear.

[solari]

If it's genuine you have nothing to fear.

Not really though... as far as I understand, the burden of proof lies upon me, not the solicitor.

Therefore whilst my claim is genuine, if the letter is easy to fake, it may not qualify as valid proof... therefore I do have something to worry about, no?

[pawncob]

If it's genuine you have nothing to fear. Please think about that sentence.

[solari]

If it's genuine you have nothing to fear. Please think about that sentence.

Oh okay

[solari]

Okay so, lastly, is it necessary that the cash gift comes from an account in her name? or is it fine if she uses a transfer service that sends it via a third party?

[someone]

What you do isn't important. What is important is whether you can convince an independent party that the funds are not the proceeds of crime and you are not money laundering.

The penalties are severe. It is not your solicitors job to judge you but to convince themselves that the money is legit. If they are suspicious then they have to refer it (and I'm pretty sure they cannot let you know they've done that) I think that will cover the solicitor but better for you if they're sufficiently confident that the money is legit that they don't need to refer it at all. Having a copy of a letter from your aunt saying that she's making a gift paid via X is one piece of evidence to convince them. (additionally, some mortgages might need that letter too as there's a different risk if it's a loan)

If the authorities believe the money is the proceeds of crime then they can confiscate it, leaving you with the problem of proving they are legal funds to get it back.

If the funds are legal then you have nothing to worry about - but it makes sense to be prepared.

People give money to family all the time and there is rarely a problem.

[solari]

Okay appreciated.

So on the letter from her, which I'm going to get translated and stamped by the foreign ministry... what details do I need?

Her full name
The date on which she is making the gift
The amount of the gift
The method that she's using for sending me the gift

Anything else?

[bd6759]

Your grandmother has £500k of spare cash. Why the necessity to do this on the cheap with advice from an anonymous internet forum. The cost of a solicitor now will be much less than the cost of a solictor to recover the money if it is confiscated under POCA.

[solari]

What kind of solicitor would I need?