any advice on inheritance and benefits

[chelseakimmy]

hi im new here but wondered if anyone could help me..I have been made co-executor to my late uncles will.and because of circumstances it is being handled by family solicitor.but we have had a letter stating the sale of the house is done and a interim payment is to be made.of excess of 50K..there are a few problems i am struggling with...1..i now i have to inform benefits agency. i am on esa which i passed the medical for.but i now this will stop.also im in receipt off housing benefit and council tax and i now also this will stop..but i don't now what i do after this.as to be honest never dealt with this before.I am suffering panic attacks with making allot of mistakes...i have been advised to get a isa..if anyone can help be much appreciated....Kim

Hi, you are doing the right thing by telling the benefits agency about the inheritance. Not to do so would be a criminal offence.

For the £50,000, I'd suggest you speak to a financial advisor. Ask the family solicitor if she can recommend anyone? You want somebody independent, not someone tied to a bank.

Is your ESA claim contribution based or Income related? It makes a difference .

If it is contribution based you may not have to give the benefit up.

But as with any changes you need to inform your benefit centre and let the Decision maker decide what consequences they bring.

Also speak to your local housing office and let them kow what you are doing. Any decision will relate to when you are actually in receipt of the money so you dont need to fear that there will be backdated claims against benefit you have already been paid.

Make the calls on Monday and set the wheels in motion.

hi thank you florencedombey ,il speak to solicitor Monday .i did make apt to see bank advisor im with but a few people have said not good idea..and i think my esa is income related, as ive been struggling for over a few years with mental health issues and just passed my medical with them .i will make some calls on Monday and see what i have to do...thank you...I now i shouldnt say but this is all new to me..so i am taking as much advice as i can..iwant to have a savings account for my children but i now this isnt what i am meeant to do as the benefits see it as deprivation..its so hard to now whatto do

is the 50k all for you or to be divided up, your claim will be paid up until money in your bank account you will not have to pay back money retrospectively with all these benefits you are allowed so much savings but it is only a few thousand

savings do not matter for some benefits like DLA but they do for ESA/JSA/housing benefit

you most definitely can not divert money tto your children unless in the will as you already know that is deprivation put money in CASH ISA to start with, paying off most debts is not deprivation but get advice

Paying of debts can be seen as deprevation of capital in the majority of cases unless you are in arrears where you are allowed to pay that proportion off.

You cannot divert to a locked ISA or to your childrens names and will be expected to live on it for a good number of years before you can claim again.

Remember it is perfectly lawful to change a will after death if all the relatives agree. They did this with Princess Diana. It is not fraud or illegal. It is done every day of the week. The family might decide that your children will inherit your share not you and then your benefits might remain but perhaps go to see a solicitor about this.

This is very different from you inheriting and choosing to give the money away.

if they found out you had altered will so you did not inherit that would definitely be deprivation

paying off a chunk of mortgage maybe deprivation but if she has inherited 50k which is way above 16k saving for JSA and she indicates there is more to come I think she is definitely not going to get benefits for a while so what is actually required is how to use the money sensibly as with 50K she is unlikely to be able to claim for upto 2-3 years

you are legally going to have to use this money to live on until you get back into work, so you need advise on how to invest so it provides monthly income in the meantime

it maybe better value for your child long term for you to use this money to concentrate on dealing with medical and MH issues and later some new job training so whole family is on a more stable footing than investing the money for them and struggling on benefits now

in this case I think if you have any debts on credit cards etc it would be wise to pay them off

you may get a job in this time frame which would make level of savings for benefits irrelevant anyway

I don't agree that all the heirs altering a will as they did with Princess Diana is illegal but do take legal advice from a solicitor on that. Often it makes more sense to skip a generation. It is not remember the heir altering the will. It would be a whole family. I am not convinced it would fall foul of benefit rules even if there were any way social services could find out about it. It is something done all the time after deaths. It is not a dodge or something strange or illegal.