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.

With the Ops clarifications it seems they are being generous possibly, his home is not part of his estate

They might change their mind on the £30K if there's a pension.

Do you expect volunteers to be experts in everything under the sun? Would you make the same comment if they had a library of text books?

The internet is a massive boon for delivering advice. Previously you needed an army of people just to keep paper based stuff up to date.

Lot's of people seeking advice cannot access the web or, if they can, they cannot interpret stuff or sort the wheat from the chaff.

Once somebody has explained their issue an early question would be what have you found out so far? Have you been on the internet?

A trained adviser will know what 'adds up' and what does not. They will have a list of sources, not least CA's own public and adviser specific sites they can use.

If they send you a link is it one you'd have found for yourself?

I would expect some CAB training, anyway you’ll be pleased to hear @Bromptotoo that I didn’t pursue my application as they needed two referees and one of the reasons I was doing it was I had been out of the workplace for a long time (I had no way of contacting my last manager and the previous employer was defunct) and was going to do it for the experience and to get a reference!

I was a volunteer and moved over to paid work.

There was a hell of a lot of training on everything from Benefits through Employment, Housing and Relationships to mention just a few. I'd be horrified if people fresh off the street were giving advice based on random websites without having (a) training and (b) supervision.

Anything we passed on to a client as 'advice' had to be cleared with the Session Supervisor.

I might get chance to make some calls in the morning. I'll look back over the thread but I think it was @Dotto who said to contact the probate people and the pension provider and/or work. My apologies if I've got the poster wrong. There's been so many replies that I've lost track of things and need to reread.

Probate call centre have said to seek legal advice.

I heard from the family today. There is now a solicitor for the estate and I'm hoping the situation will soon be clarified. I need to find out about the pension because that is separate.

Death in service dies not become part of the estate. It is treated outside of the estate and not subject to inheritance tax. It goes to the person(s) nominated in the Expression of Wishes form

Perfect so get the solicitor details and just get in touch with them

Ask about the dependants pension as well as death in service payment.

So the middle child would get all the death in service if she’s named, that’s potentially a lot of money. I guess you can’t contest that, but do make sure that you register your daughters existence with the pension provider. 100% you need legal advice. It sounds like the house belongs to the ex so will largely benefit any of her children (middle child likely to benefit I assume most if it’s her daughter). Any savings and pension will be what’s shared equally between the 3 children. That’s how I see it but I’m no lawyer. Had the house already been sold your DD would inherit a lot more, but I guess as you were expecting nothing, she will at least get a sum of money to help her in her adult life. It will all go in trust so won’t affect benefits

That's great news, hopefully it will avoid any potentially awkward conversations with the family. Hopefully your daughter will receive whatever she is entitled to and gets a relationship with her siblings too. Good luck OP.

The administrators probably have absolute discretion to vary from the nominated person and share equally between all children. Your should get in touch with his pension scheme and let them know that your child exists and may be a beneficiary.

Having spoken to the pension provider Dd would get a monthly payment paid to me until she is 16 then it can go direct to her. I need to fill out some forms.
I have no idea how or if that will impact UC.

OP, if you were on UC and divorced, with your XH paying maintenance, would that affect your UC?

@Bromptotoo you seem to know the UC rules well and I can't find an answer online to this: if DD's child pension is paid into my account as a monthly amount, which is what they have said it would be, would this count as my income? I have no idea how much it would be but he worked full time for the company for over 20 years and was on around £35K. I would want to transfer it each month in to DD's account.

It would depend on the conditions attached to the payment. If it's paid for DC and clearlynis marked as so then you are probably OK . Personally I'd open up a new account in DD name with you as a trustee and then it makes it really clear to UC that this isn't your money

Yer Tiz, from the NHS Pension Scheme

A children's pension paid to a parent, step parent or guardian is not regarded as part of the adult's income for tax purposes. A child gets the same personal tax allowance as an adult and must pay income tax on any children's pension in excess of their personal allowance. We will deduct income tax via PAYE.

Children's pension - NHSBSA

NHSBSA

So its the childs pension not yours

BUT I cant see how it affects UC

Needs a head scratch.

I'll give it some time.

Thanks @Bromptotoo
I have emailed ex's council to see about a copy of the death certificate because that is needed for the pension company. There's a bit of unease with the ex wife and the extended family over the house and I'll be glad to get the situation there confirmed because it's rather uncomfortable being in the middle of them talking about it. There's some doubt she does own the house from them but from what I know she does.

His ex wife is named as the death in service beneficiary because he didn't update it. I think that is now void as they are divorced?

Probably so though I suspect ultimately it will depend on the scheme rules.

Actually it will be typically down to the trustees of the scheme to decide. I used to be a pension trustee and this was exactly the sort of decision we'd have to take. As the payment is discretionary which keeps outside IHT.
Typically we'd get a report explaining the situation eg that the deceased didn't update their desth in service nominations and that they were since divorced and had xx dependents and the recommendation was to provide for dependents rather than ex spouse. Generally as trustees we'd look to reflect the actual situation rather than outdated nomination forms

The ex wife remarried many years ago. She and my ex were divorced around 20 years ago. I really hope the pension goes to his all his dc. I would hope the bereavement team at the pension company take into account his 3 dc and make a decision that is fair for them all.
I've not heard back about the death certificate and will phone about that today.