No Will, sole beneficiary

[MyStomachHurts]

Jane is a pensioner, lives alone in a bungalow and is in receipt of PIP and housing benefit.

Jane's Brother, John passes away suddenly. John had never married and had no children. He lived a simple life but lo and behold, it turns out he had about £70,000 in the bank.

Jane has been granted sole beneficiary but is not very good with money at all and is feeling overwhelmed by the whole thing.

Jane has 3 daughters and several grandchildren (I am neither of these people mentioned btw) and would like to distribute the money between herself and the Daughters.

However Jane has been told (informally) that by her giving money to her daughters it will look like she is doing this solely so her benefits will not stop. Please note that there was no Will and she never asked for this money. She would like to share it evenly between the 4 of them.

Is this true?

How can Jane give the money to her Daughters without being investigated. One daughter has left a DV relationship and lost her house, she wants to help her with a deposit.

Is a Deed of variation applicable here?

I think if she inherits the money and then gives it away it might be deprivation of capital. How is it fair that Jane continues to get help with her rent through Housing benefit when she has £70k ?
The inheritance will not affect her PIP as that is non means tested but any capital over £16k will mean she will not get housing benefit.
I don't think it is possible just to give it away. I think she needs to seek advice form CAB and / or maybe a soliciter.

Jane needs to look up the 'Deprivation of capital' rules.

The capital would also affect pension credit which I imagine she might get if she is on a low enough income to claim housing benefit.

She would have a fourth of 70k. She has been told that her pension is AIP protected which means she could still claim housing benefit too. This doesn't sound correct

If she is the sole beneficiary of the will she will have £70k. if she chooses to give this away then this might be considered deprivation of capital I would imagine. She would be best to get some proper advice as to whether she is able to share it without repurcussions.

If you are in receipt of any means tested benefit ?Ike housing benefit an you inherit or acquire money you are meant to use this money to live on generally speaking paying off debts is not depravation, five cruises would be so would giving the money to others relatives be. It is not right for the welfare state to subsidize someone housing benefit when they could afford to do it themselves

I think she would be expected to use the money to pay her rent, then once the capital falls below £16k it would be tapered and she would probably start getting a little HB again. PIP will not be affected.

The rules for deprivation of capital are different for pensioners on pension credit. If she is in an assessed income period then she doesn't have to report changes in capital and she can spend or give away the inheritance as she likes. She does not have to spend it on her rent or living costs. If she is on pension credit then housing benefit and council benefit are passported so she will continue to be eligible for these. Is she over 75? Some AIPs are fixed term so if it runs out before she receives the money then it may not fall within the AIP. She will have an end date on her pension credit letter, or if she is over 75 then the AIP may be indefinite.

See entitled to or contact Age UK - it's important to get advice from an agency who knows about the deprivation rules for pensioners as they are different for working age claimants.

fireglow very interesting and helpful. She is 67 and been told her AIP is in place until 2019

How can it be right to be left 70k and still want to claim HB? All very well wanting to help family but not at the expense of other people who work and pay tax - that seems really wrong.