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.

Then look at the death in service benefit. The trustees may just split it between the children. I doubt they would pay it to an ex-wife and they aren't bound by the intestacy rules.

It might be best for the administrators of the estate to set up some kind of a trust. You need proper legal and financial advice.

A lot of misinformation here.

Could include pension
death in service benefit
savings
life insurance
half of the house or none if its a joint tenancy(his half will pass to wife)

if there’s no will, they might not even instruct a solicitor.

basically, you should contact his employer and inform them of your daughters existence
you can contact hmrc on your daughters behalf and inform them of her interest

all of these are usually paid in lump sums and will be your daughters funds and will not affect your benefits.
she can withdraw from her own bank account whenever she wants.

check out hmrc death, there’s a lot of information there.

Op get legal advice. If there is no will the estate will go through probate. Basically my understanding is the estate will be shared to whoever were next of kin. Has he got a wife? If so think the money may go to her? She can gift some money to his children?

Pensions often don’t form the estate and therefore outside probate, so if you know who the pension company is or employer this might be a good place to start. Probate can take some time, OP you didn’t state who exactly advised your DD was to inherit if that person is the administrator then it’s their legal requirement to disfrute the estate in accordance with the law. You can still ask the administrator assuming this is the family for any updates in relation to your DD share. I think posters were advising to seek legal solicitor because your DDis a minor. If the pension company is satisfied she is a beneficiary they will either agree with you their parent/ legal guardian or the admistrator of the estate what monies are owed and how they will be made.

If they were joint owners, she owned half, right? So the other half wouldn’t be hers without a will?

@ThaTrìCaitAgam no. If they held the ownership as joint tenants, the other person automatically inherits regardless of a will.

If they were tenants in common, then they own shares in the property

Ah! Didn’t know it works that way.

If you have access to it then it will be treated as capital for DWP. It needs to go into a trust and only be released by the trustees for things that directly benefit her. Would it not be better to put it into a trust that she can access at 18 so she can use for uni or a car or house deposit? See a solicitor

I'm replying about how things work in UC rather than addressing the specifics for the OP

That's not wholly correct, a trust might be the right way to go and, in a sense if money is held for a child it's held on trust, but there's no meed for complicated stuff.

It needs to be clear that, even if a parent has the legal interest in the money it beneficially belongs to the child. If a child is too young to hold or operate an account on their own, and/or large sums are involved, it will be held on their behalf by a parent or relative.

A DWP decision maker will look at each case on its own facts. They have extensive guidance to help them in this task.

OP you need legal advice. It will be worth seeing a solicitor. If her father wasn't married and has 3 children then the estate needs to be split in three.

The adult children saying they want to replace maintenance sounds very nice but it is your DDs money, not theirs and not yours.

There will need to be some sort of trust that allows her to receive the money as an adult, that doesn't mean she gets it all on her 18th birthday.

Buying Premium Bonds is not fraudulent! For goodness sake.... My point about the scanning is that even if you have declared an income source that you are a guardian for and it HAS BEEN PERMITTED by the DWP, the scanning bots don't have that level of personalisation and so will pick it up as potential fraud and people find they constantly have to explain themselves and this is a big hassle for those it affects. Different offices seem to have different approaches to 'investigation', but it's always a hassle and the tone can be unpleasant. It gets resolved fine and then a couple of months later it can happen again.
You were projecting something I did not suggest.

DWP don’t random scan bank accounts, a PP said. They only can access bank accounts when fraud is suspected.

Surely if no will

Then house will be split between ex wife as she paid into it and the other half split into thirds for his 3 kids

Isn't that the law

So don't accept £30k from them as sounds like the older kids /adults are taking away your daughters third of half of the house

Plus pension

FOR THE LAST TIME: the ex wife was a joint tenant and now owns ALL the house because that's how they kept things until their child turned 18 but it was extended to until their daughter left uni which is next year. On his death the house became solely her house because they owned equal shares and were joint tenants despite being divorced.

Sorry I didn't see that part

Ok so no house

So where is this £30k coming from ?

His savings /pension

Whatever he has left surely that will all be divided into 3 for his kids

The exW wants Dd to have what would have been maintenance up to 18.

Can you set up an account in your DD's name with you as the operator? We did these when I worked in a Building Society.

You could receive the funds as a cheque payable to your DD and then pay it in.

You could then withdraw the money monthly when needed.

This is a bit complicated! Was your ex married when he died? Usually if there is no will, the estate would go to his wife but if no wife, then equally between his surviving children and held in trust until they are 18.

Wouldnt waste your time with CAB but you do need to get some proper legal advice to ensure your DD gets what she is due. Really sorry you are in the position as you already have enough on your plate!

Pardon my French, but screw him! I know I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but this is a comment on wilfully absent fathers - he may have resented the crumbs he sent your way per month, but the law of this country protects kids. Your daughter is entitled to what is lawfully her’s. Doesn’t matter if her dad wasn’t around or even wanted her. Do right by her Mamma.. I believe that you will! (Btw, my husband had a few kids before we married and he’s not in touch with them, not by choice. But he puts money aside for each one, and we plan our life and our wills including them even though we have kids together of our own - so not all absent dad’s are the same, but any man that doesn’t acknowledge his responsibilities to his offspring is scum).

thats appears to be the decent thing for her to say, however as PPs have said, your daughter is entitled to 1/3. End of.

ive read all posts btw. This is a matter close to my heart.

Reading through and am sure this has been said further down the thread but in a rush so commenting anyway.
its not up to the adults. If there is no will that means he died Intestate and there are specific set rules, and chances are your daughter is owed more than 30k!
inheritance rules without a will are wife/hisband, then children, then onto other relatives. No wife and will means that all monies should go straight to his children evenly divided.

the relatives are trying it on

Then she can pay £300 to you every month till she is 18

But

Your daughter would be legally Entitled to 1/3 of what you ex has left if no will as his surviving blood relatives

So far as I can tell from the OP's posts the main/sole asset was a house. For whatever reason the deceased kept it in joint names with his ex and as Joint Tenants. That means it passes to her outside of his estate.

Unless there was cash in the state too the OP's DD may get nothing although there may be a pension.

I applied to volunteer at the CAB and they had the volunteers just looking stuff up on the internet to answer questions so I think it depends on which area the CAB is in as to how useful they are.