Inheritance for child when the parent is on benefits

[moneyisnotfunny]

Nc and some details changed for this. My young daughter is going to inherit around £30K from her late father once the estate is sorted out through probate. I am a single parent carer on benefits and am concerned about how to handle this situation. The money will be very much my daughter's and I have been told that it is to cover her maintenance up to when she reaches adulthood. Because it is maintenance, there needs to be a way of releasing the maintenance amount per month to me for her every day living expenses. If the full amount went into my account then my benefits would stop and the money would run out long before Dd hits 18 and we would because off as a family. I hope that makes sense.
How can I keep her money safe and in her name but released monthly to help for her day to day things? Is this possible? It's around £300 a month that she got and this is the rate it would continue at afaik. I will be asking for it to be paid into an account in her name. Multiple Junior ISAs? Premium Bonds? She is 8 and any account will have to be overseen by me as her only parent/guardian.
TIA.

The Dependants Pension should be paid direct to you by the pension Fund on your daughters behalf.

Making a more general point and this may well be a route you dont wish to go down, or it may not be worth going down, a child or someone who was maintained by the deceased can go to court for provision from the estate of the deceased - ie half the house but given that there may not be any funds in this case and a dependants pension it may not be worthwhile

It can not be in your bank account.

The question for the DWP isn't as simple as whose account the money is in. They will look at who has the beneficial interest which would be the OP's daughter.

Best it's not sitting in Mum's current account but a separate account in her name would probably pass muster.

Look at it as the scale of cosmic justice tilting back towards your daughter. She deserves her share of the estate in lieu of having an absent, uncaring father. Good luck with all your calls, you've got this.

Would the pension be a lump sum or a regular payment? I can't find the answer online about child pensions. I will definitely be putting money in her name.

Depends on the pension type. When I was a trustee it was a lump sum for dependents

I say this again, but it's proper, legal advice that you need. By all means gather up information, but a solicitor is the person who will be able to tell you how to proceed.
There is a lot at stake here.

It could be either or both (lump sum/regular payment), depending on the scheme and if your DD was mentioned in any “expression of wish form”.

You need to contact the particular pension scheme to find out.

Thank you. I'm just trying to gather as much information as I can whilst acknowledging some things might not be correct. I can't make any calls until later this next week but this thread has made me aware that Dd is possibly entitled to something legally instead of a kind gift for want of a better phrase.

Not 'possibly'. A quick glance at the rules of intestacy lays it out very clearly: Absent of a will and a spouse, a person's children will equally inherit what is left from their estate, after any debt is paid. I know it might take a while to sink in (I have some experience of this) but it is legal fact.

With the employer offering a good pension you should Google and see if they offer a death in service benefit.

If my DH dies while working for his current employer I will get 5 times his salary. If I die my DH will get £100,000.

That money (I think) becomes part of his estate and should be shared amongst the 3 DC.

Domestic Facilities management has just seen the value of my Death in Service Benefit and is now wondering why the knives and rat poison has disappeared

@BeachRide I don't think there is anything apart from the pension. The house is now his ex's as they were joint owners of the house with no financial settlement.

On intestacy law do check which jurisdiction of course eg England and Scotland are not the same. On the case of the first post, there is no need for the child to have anything until 18 - keep it all, don't draw maintenance and then she can use it for university at 18 for example.

Are you 100% sure about this? It seems bizarre that a jointly owned asset would automatically go to the ex-partner the deceased person divorced even if the ex-partner jointly owned the property.

Depends on the type of joint ownership;

If they were joint tenants then the whole property passes to the surviving co-owner.

If they were tenants in common then the deceased's share falls into there estate. In this case it looks as though it would be divided three ways amongst the deceased's children.

As said previously it's usually advised that, where a couple separate any joint tenancy should be severed. If, for whatever reason that didn't happen here then the ex wins!

Just a thought, happy to be corrected if wrong, but - if there’s no will, and two other children and his wife, are you sure the house is in his ex wife’s name? And are you sure your child is not legally entitled to a fourth of the house’s value?

@MayNov yes, it's in the exW's name. They were joint tenants and no financial agreement when they divorced except the house would be sold when their Dd reached 18. Then that was extended to cover the uni years of which this next year is the final one. I know exW has contacted a solicitor to see what's what. She has said she only wants what she put in which I think is so that their Dd inherits the rest.

If the house is in fact solely the exW's and for the sake of argument she sells the house and gets £300K from the sale is that hers as in not shared between the 3 dc? I'm getting confused with the house and estate and the interstate rules. As far as I know the house and pension are the only assets.

When my uncle died one of his brothers held the money for my cousin in trust until she was 18 and he paid her mother maintenance until then for her upbringing. The mother and my uncle were no longer together. Could something like that be arranged with his family?

CAB don’t give financial advice so wouldn’t be able to advise on setting up a trust or any other financial transaction associated with the inheritance . They will however be able to assist you with understanding the effect of inheritance on your UC so maybe try them as first port of call with a view to seeking independent financial advise afterwards

Is it possible to find out who the solicitor is for the deceased without asking the family? As in if I phoned the local solicitor's would they be able to tell me if they are dealing with the estate?

As you are not an administrator who is applying for probate there is no easy way to tell. The administrator doesn’t have to use a solicitor if the family have already been in contact I’m not sure why you are trying to find out who the solicitor is as advised the next of kin can apply for probate when there is no will.

@Avidreader12 I had some advice up thread to contact the solicitor to advise them of my Dd.

Usually the next of kin would apply for probate and they are called the administror, if you know the pension company then you can try contacting them first as I understand your DD Is a beneficiary, but the pension company may not be able to advise anything due to GDPR but you can try. Solicitors if they are instructed by the next of kin would be reluctant to disclose as you are technically a third party. You can instruct your own solicitor to get some advice on the situation. It’s a bit unique it that your estranged and the family have reached out to you. I would have thought any mention of monies would be a bit premature since if his death is fairly recent the family may not have a clear idea of the value of the estate. I know it would be easier to deal with a professional but unless you are contesting the estate legally which can be costly to you I’m not sure if it would be worth it since the estate hasn’t been through probate so you don’t know the value of the end result.

Sounds very difficult OP. Solicitor is your best bet but I think you will need to know who is dealing with his affairs as he left no will