Unwanted inheritance

[didsnbump]

Hi my grandfathers brother-in-law has just passed away and he is due to inherit what he had in savings. My grandfather is 92 and doesn't want the money as it will only get taken to pay for his care.
Does anyone know how we get round this so that we can share it between the rest of the family as my grandfather wants?

I don't think you can. You could have done if the BIL was still alive, but now that he has passed I think it would be deemed deliberately depriving himself of assets.

I'm very happy to be corrected, though.

If its left to your grandfather in the will its his and should be used to pay for his living expenses. Don't think you can get around this.

he can refuse it (I think it goes back into the state, but if there is no one else in the will for it to be shared out to I'm not sure what happens)

but he in order to give it out he has to accept it, and theyll be tax for giving it on to everyone

you can disclaim an inheritance, see wikipedia here

but it would be wise to chat with a solicitor before doing so.

Mumblechum is a MN poster with a will-writing business, she may be able to help

I don't know if it would work in your case, OP, but my uncle died last year, intestate. My DM, his sister, stood to inherit the lot but did a Deed of Variation to distribute it, with no tax complication. This was under Scots Law, and DM doesn't need care, though.

You may be able to use a "Deed of Variation". It allows you to vary the terms of a Will (subject to Legalities!). Here are some details: www.probatewizard.co.uk/guides/what-is-a-deed-of-variation.htmlome
You really need proper legal advice, - you Grandfather may be seen as deliberately getting rid of assets to avoid care charges.

Yes he can enter into a Deed of Variation as long as it is done within two years from the date of death. He should see a solicitor, preferably the solicitor who is acting in the Probate. The firm I work for charges £150.00 plus VAT for this service.

If he is the only beneficiary then within 2 years of the deceased death a deed of variation can be executed. Effectively this is rewriting the original will and changing the beneficiaries. Please use a good solicitor to have this done effectively

Should the money not go for his care though?

Is he in care already?

He can give it all away to his relatives but if he dies within 7 years you will pay inheritance tax on it. You'd pay inheritance tax on it anyway if he dies and leaves it to you so he might as well give it away if that's what he wants!

Am I the only person that thinks that redistributing this money is as immoral as being a benefit cheat or a tax evader?

Agent....I don't think so. This money belonged to a private individual not the state.

Yes, but it's being redistributed so that the state pays for care, presumably.

It seems unethical to me tbh.

And me. He is elderly, needs care, inherits money. The money should therefore go for his care, or form part of his estate for later. Yes, I would agree it is wrong to get to the tax payer to pay for stuff so that others can get an inheritance.

There is nothing illegal or unethical about him executing a deed of variation if he wants not to inherit. The money would not then touch his estate so he wouldn't need to survive seven years to avoid any tax.

Yes a deed of variation would be the way to do this. It is not immoral at all.

Should the state pay for the state education of (and indeed issue a coveted place to) a child whose parents can afford private but don't want it? Of course not. Same principle here.

Ridiculous to tell the op this is immoral. Not remotely illegal either.

It seems immoral to me! 'Shared out' amongst his family so the state pays for more of his care....

Found this-

A Deed of Variation sometimes known as a Deed of Family Arrangement enables beneficiaries of a deceased's estate to alter the distribution of that estate, or relinquish a bequest from an estate. Thus changing the deceased Will.

There are a number of reasons that you might want to alter the way money or property is allocated from a deceased estate but probably the most common reason to make an alteration is to achieve a future Inheritance Tax saving.

Many married couples either do not have a will or leave everything to each other. This is a perfectly valid thing to do but offers little protection from care costs assessment.

Changing a will after a persons death to try and avoid care cost assessment will normally be seen by local authorities as an attempt to deliberately deprive them of assets they could have used to fund long term care costs.

In most scenarios, where there are no other reasons for making the change, a deed of variation would be ineffectual if a requirement for long term care were to arise in the near term.

Glad it's not just me who thinks it's immoral and unethical.

There's nothing illegal about lots of tax avoidance schemes, but they are unethical and that's what this would be IMO.

It's not tax avoidance though is it? It is claiming state money when you don't need to. Wrong.

Deed of variation will not affect the position re inheritance tax when your grandpa dies either as the effect of a deed of variation is that the money he would have inherited is treated as never having passed through your estate. Instead it is as if it were left directly to you (or whoever your grandpa shifts it to).

Deed of variation is a pretty standard procedure. The chap who passed away probably made his will decades ago & hadn't considered leaving money to a 92 year old may not be the best course of action.