Elderly parent wants to give large amount of money to me - I have refused !

[Orangecurtains]

Elderly parent (90’s) wants to give significant amount of money to me - I have said no as am not in need of it as such ? They are insisting !
What are the implications for myself and parent ?
For context I am not working at the moment due to ill health (my own choice) but do not claim benefits ?
What would you do ? ?

@ByQuaintAzureWasp It’s £3000 pa to reduce IHT. Not £400 a month. If it was IHT you were thinking of.

Of course it's not necessarily deprivation. That only applies in any case if a person needs funding for care. There's an implication on MN that people are not allowed to give money away. It's just not true, just that there may be negative implications in some cases.

We don't know how much she plans to give and what she has left and the giver is 90.
A significant amount to some people might be £1000 where to others it's over 6 figures. The giver may know she has not got long left.

Money given on a regular basis out of income is not subject to IHT.
This is in addition to the £3000 a year.
So if @ByQuaintAzureWasp has £400 a month spare after all her outgoings she can give it to her DC free of risk of IHT.

Talk to the parent about what their thinking is here. Is it an attempt to avoid IHT / care fees (perhaps based on misapprehensions about how those things work)? What is their plan for the future, if they need care? Will the money still be there even after what they want to give you? Make sure they understand the Deprivation of Assets thing.

It's hard to give advice without any idea at all of the amounts involved or the parent's circumstances. I mean, if they're trying to give you £100k out of a fortune of millions, take it; if they want to give £20k and that's all they have in the world, don't.

Are there siblings or other potential heirs?

As far as I understand, the seven year rule does not apply to local authorities assessing care home costs. They can go back further than 7 years. I think the 7 year cut off applies to inheritance tax, not care home costs? But either way, you’re highly likely to get a huge tax bill and be hit with care charges.

But would you not have to be over the IHT limit ?

Accept. They want to see you spend it while they're here.

This.

Deprivation of assets for car costs, be aware.

Inheritance tax, needs declaration if death in less than 7 years

Does annoy me when people post a question

many reply with helpful advice

and op doesn’t come back

Maybe they are trying to avoid Inheritance Tax
it is my understanding that cash gifts before a certain date prior to death are not considered under IHT rules you should look into “deprivation of assets

Accept it

Invest it

If possible don’t spend it for now, in case parent needs it for care or in case of IHT - but can spend any proceeds from investing it, ie interest/dividends.