Inheritance and Universal credit

[inheritanceargument]

If one of a set of (full) siblings is disinherited and they challenge this legally are they in a better position because they are on full benefits and have a disability ?

I know that people can leave their money to whoever they want BUT this seems really unfair. (Not me btw but someone iam supporting). There is no real reason for it as far as I can see but the disabled sibling has been unable to care for the mother so has been disinherited (I’m assuming the other siblings have pushed this - citing how a council house and benefits means they are provided for already….) but surely if they were to get the inheritance they could come off UC (it would be quite a large sum).

There are variations in the law between England and Scotland. In Scotland, you can't completely disinherit your children under the 'bairns rights' principle.

This was my parents’ will. My brother and myself were to inherit 50/50, and my sister was to get nothing. That’s what the will said, anyway. But actually, the plan was that one-third of the estate was to be used for dsis - a kind of non-legal, informal trust.

Initially, this was because my sister was married to an emotionally abusive spend thrift. After she divorced him she became disabled, and so the existing will meant there were no benefit issues.

My parents, btw, only made this will because they trusted me and my brother implicitly. But if you looked at the will, on paper it was grossly unfair, as there was no mention at all that my brother and myself were to look after my sister’s best interests. My sister was fully aware of the contents of the will, and was happy with it.

In the event, it’s become irrelevant. My sister died before my parents.

You can’t get legal aid to challenge a will.

It just seems wrong and as I said knowing what I do of the family I don’t actually think the mother would have done this

That's not the indisputable moral fact that you seem to think it is. It varies considerably across legal jurisdictions, and I'm sure many people in France for example would say that "the rock bottom fact is that people are entitled to a share in their parent's estate."

In this case, the Heather Ilott case suggests that a letter saying "I'm disinheriting my child because if I give them money they'll lose their entitlement to UC" would not go down well with a judge as a good and sufficient reason. However, actually fighting the case on behalf of the disinherited child would be hugely risky and expensive.

Well do they/you have a copy of the will?

Challenging a will is extremely difficult. My Mother left her entire estate to one child and cut the other five of us off. The solicitor who wrote it said he would deem her compus mentis. Due to the cost we decided to not contest it, I didn’t really want to because I knew it would be me footing the bill and dealing with it all. I was very honest with my siblings and said that I was not prepared to be the main person dealing with it.

Forget what is fair in your eyes, unless coercion can be proven or if the person had for instance dementia and could be deemed not compus mentis at the time the will was written it will go nowhere.

My Mother always made it abundantly clear she had a favourite child. The favourite child knew, we all did but whilst myself and one other sister accepted it the others never could and that will was the final twist of the knife. But no shock to myself and other sister, two of my siblings refused to attend her funeral.

@Adversity Terrible isn't it.

The bitterness these decisions leave.

But as you say, proof is totally different from suspicion, esp as the main witness is now dead.

High Court action is 100k plus.

But ultimately, we have to respect that what someone does with their monies is up to them in the UK, subject to dependency law (the llott case)

A relative has been on disability benefits for decades. An inheritance caused her a lot of financial trouble, I don't know the details. I'd think the parents would be trying to avoid this, the money could just disappear on care and living costs that are already being paid for.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Not the UK.

My mother died and didn't leave anything to my disabled sibling. This is because it would all have been taken in paying for their care at their care home and be gone in less than two years. It was left to me with the understanding that I will use it for their benefit as and when they need it. So if they want to go on holiday (with carers). I'll pay. If they need clothing, treats, private medical treatment etc. I'll pay. It's can be problematic to leave money to people with severe disabilities.

I always thought that was penalised - very similar poetion in that person has died, but their will leaves
a high ish sum to a terminally ill adult (their child) currently slowly dying in a nursing home . My understanding was that we’d have been penalised even if person chances their will first as it would have been viewed as deprivation of assets (ie the will would have been intentionally changed directly to prevent money paying home fees) . Afaik in the case I’m thinking of the money is still going to the adult, and it’ll likely be gone entirely on care home fees .

If on UC you have to declare the amount of inheritance you get as there is a limit.
Also, if the other siblings are in agreement that their sister can be included in the inheritance, it will be shared between them all, but if your friend decides to dispute the inheritance ( she will need a solicitor), this could 'persuade' her siblings as it could cost them part of their inheritance if it goes to court.

If you push to challenge, firstly I think you are at risk of being pilloried in the press as grasping carer trying to get hands on vulnerable person's money, but also there's a good chance it will end up with being no money for anyone except the lawyers.

The point that they may well lose their benefits and actually end up worse off is a valid point too. I know a situation where this happened and the result was they ended up with far less independence and money issues on top.

If your friend is thinking about challenging it then get them to speak to a lawyer and ask about these things. But it is not your battle to push them into fighting.

Depends on why the DM wants to disinherit.
If my dm had purposely disinherited a sibling because of their choice and the sibling wanted to contest it, I'd rather I lost money to the court than pay it to the sibling.

What was your friend's relationship like with her dm?

It could be because the dm didn't want to deprive her of benefits or it could be the dm was a manipulative bitch.

Either way, it would be a bugger to contest unless you could prove the dm wasn't of sound mind when she made it.

It's only money (and I will loose 500k when my Mother disinherits me). I wouldn't want anything from someone who despised me.

You could end up paying your siblings court costs as well as your own.

I was quoted approx 100k each as a minimum, several years ago, its a myth it comes from the estate, thats not the norm.

Deed of Variation? but with no evidence of undue influence, why would they agree to that? if you believe they have acted unlawfully.

Stand corrected, exc Scotland in my early post.

Quite @Thecatsatonthewalls now am.worried about this person, whose capacity is not known, being encouraged enticed into costly court action to hopefully get more money.

That sounds very sad all round.

It is definitely 100% not deprivation of assets for a person to change their own will in any way. If you think about it, how could it be? And who would you prosecute? The dead person?

But changing it once the person has died, just to avoid it being wasted on care home fees by the person who inherits and already needs it for their care, would be. Or the money would still be considered that person's assets, anyway, when assessing their income.

Charities like mencap run sessions on will writing when a potential beneficiary is disabled. There is a lot to consider. As an example, sometimes those around the disabled person may exploit them and target them for their money if it is left to them directly. (a discretionary trust is usually advised but I know plenty of families who just do it informally via agreement with siblings. Of course that is also fraught with difficulty)

The parents need to seek advice from a family lawyer/ estate planning people. My dh’s uncle is severely disabled and inheritance will go straight to his care, so the grandparents set up a trust leaving a portion to him but capped at a certain amount a year so it’s still under the benefits threshold and he still has his independent spending money and there’s no feeling of being ‘unfair’ because he’s not been cut out of the inheritance

@headingforbreakdown my mother's will was made many years before my sibling went into a care home, so no deprivation of assets. The will was set up using advice from an accountant who specialises in such matters. I won't go into details as it's pretty outing.