Protecting Cash in Bank Account for benefit of children etc. after death

Looking for some advice on a delicate situation a good friend of mine finds herself in at the moment, it's a bit of a messy one so hope the following makes sense.

Her widowed father passed away last year and his estate was divided equally amongst his 3 children, my friend (lets call her Sally) her sister and brother. Her brother who is in bad health and is in residential care abroad has asked her to hold onto his share of the estate in order to pay his funeral costs to include him being buried back in his home place in Ireland. He has advised her with the knowledge of the solicitor who handled her parents estate that she can be the beneficary of the monies left after all costs involved in his burial are paid. However he has requested that should she pre-decease him that his share of the estate should be given to the other sister to look after any burial costs and again keep whatever is left, he is trying to ensure neither of them are left with carrying the cost of his burial and also to ensure he is buried in his home place in Ireland.

Now where the problem begins is that Sally's currently has this money is a Bank Account in her name, holding her share (wants it to be divided equally among her 4 children) and her brothers share, her husband is aware of this and agreed what should be done if she was to pre-decease her brother. However, her husband is an severe alcholic and she is afriad that should she die before her brother that her husband will get access to both her and her brothers money, most likely will then mean that he will drink it away and then when her brother dies that her sister will end up incurring all of the costs of the brothers funeral as well as her children not getting what she would like for them to have.

They drew up a Will some years back, straight forward saying in the event of each others death the other will be the beneficary, this was prior to her father dying. It is not possible as you can imagine for her to ask to have another Will drawn up and get him to agree to it, he can be very manipulative and agressive so she does not wish to aggravate him.

Is there anyway possible for her to protect this money for the benefit of their children and the burial of her brother, in order that his wishes specifically are carried out. Would opening a joint account with her sister and lodging the money into it make it possible or when someone dies do all account including joint accounts become part of the deceased persons estate? Alternatively would anyone have any other suggestion that might help as she is very distraught at the moment trying to find a solution, thanks in advance.

It depends on how much it is. Straightforward would be to have brothers share in an account in his name and a will dictating how to be divided in the event of his death and who survives him. If the amount is over a certain threshold ( depends on financial institution but generally around 12000) then a grant would have to be taken out to his estate to access the funds, if under then a clearance certificate from revenue only which is easy and straightforward and could be done by the survivor without probate costs. Otherwise joint accounts with specific instructions on entitlement to proceeds, or nominated accounts ( credit union) or deeds of trust. An appointment with a solicitor might be in order to get general advice. Most solicitors will have dealt with the 'alcoholic spouse' problem before as sadly this is all too frequent.

Thanks Vanilla, unfortunately they cannot open an account for him as he has spent most of his life in the UK and is in 24hr care so does not have any bills etc. in his name to open an account and also he would be non resident. The figure in question is just above the €12k threshold so it is not a major amount but still is all she has to her name with the exception of a small pension. He has cleared out all their savings over the last few years, thus her reason for not believing he will honour her wish should she pre-decease him. He is very controlling so I'm not sure how we will be able to get her to a solicitor without raising his suspicion, in the meantime the Credit Union idea sounds like something that should put her mind at ease and she has an Account there so thanks for that, very much appreciated.