Could I be charged with fraud?

[BiscoffCheesecakes]

My dad died a few years ago & he left his estate to me & my brother. My db asked me to look after his share of money. At the time he told me it was because he wasn't very responsible with money & I knew more about where to invest etc. So I've had all the money in my name in various accounts & just transferred him money if he needed it for holidays etc.

I'm not particularly close to him & didn't know much about his work situation. He's always been a bit cagey about it so i don't ask. I now know he is on benefits & after seeing a post on here recently, I realised he wanted me to look after his money so he could carry on receiving benefits.

If there are investigations in the future could I just say that I wasn't aware of his benefit situation? Or will I or he be charged with fraud?

YOu are meant to report it on your journal if it goes over £6000

Have you seen this case today? Overpayment of benefits due to fraud resulting in suspended prison sentence for the claimant https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/benefits-cheat-mum-sobbed-dock-33673030

If you don't report this you are committing fraud. Loads of benefit claimants are getting found out when claim reviews happen and the DWP get access to statements. It's disgusting the amount of benefit fraud happening at the moment. I'm just glad the DWP are upping the number of claim reviews taking place to prevent and prosecute those greedy claimants taking us tax payers for a ride.

I had a claim review and it went fine. some people are really worried about them because they think what they spend money on will be judged. It is not.
The lady who did mine was really nice and it did not last long.

HMRC know when my savings interest goes over the £500 tax free limit, so banks do share information.

Unfortunately this isn't true. Because it was your brothers capital, any interest income was also your brothers.

You can't even claim he gave it all to you as a gift because you've been trickling it back to him for holidays.

Im not kidding op, see a lawyer, fast. You could both be in quite a lot of trouble, you are more likely to be treated leniency if you voluntarily disclose it.

OP if he doesn't have a lot left anyway I'd withdraw in cash what he has left and give it to him. Then he has had it all and what he does with it is up to him.

Op, I was initially in a similar situation to you following the death of my parents. I was executor for my DM’s estate and my sibling, who is on benefits, asked me if I would keep their share of the inheritance in the Executor’s account I had set up and just transfer money to them as and when they needed it. I refused. My sibling then instructed me to transfer the money to a bank account held by a friend of theirs who had obviously agreed to help with the fraud and I again refused. Caused a huge row and sibling no longer speaks to me (which is a relief tbh) but I felt strongly about this because my sibling has been on benefits for 20 years and has not worked at all during this time despite being physically able to (a subject for another thread!). They inherited hundreds of thousands of pounds and still wanted to game the system…

Anyway. However you look at it, you’ve aided your DB in committing fraud and I’m sure you knew that before you started the thread. Were you perhaps hoping most people would say it’s not your fault at all? This is MN, the Benefits system is always an emotive subject so unfortunately that was never going to happen lol. Please take the advice the fraud prosecutor on the thread has given yours

Cash? Looks even more fraudulent! She needs to send it to his account to show very clearly the 'paper trail' of where it went.

The OP’s idea of “not a lot left” is 32k…

@BiscoffCheesecakes If you have only just found this out then here is what I would do

Document the amount he was left - all documentation , will , the money going into your bank account etc
Document when you transferred amounts to him and what amounts (bank transfers or bank statements )

Transfer the remaining inheritance to his bank account & make sure you have a receipt for this.

Then I would phone the solicitors and say what has happened and see what they say.

Otherwise I think it could look a bit dodgy. If it isn't you will be fine. But better to call it out immediately once you knew. If DB unbeknownst to you has been asking you to shield what is essentially income - that's for him to sort out. But better he knows sooner rather than later. If this arrangement doesn't meet his benefits status , the sooner it is stopped the better , or he may ( may) - I don't know , end up having to pay money back when he doesn't have the money .

I am not an accountant or a lawyer but given you have just realised this now , my advice is fess up ASAP

It’s certainly best that the OP admits what’s happened now, but the rest of your post is incredibly naive.

Claiming ignorance is no defence. The OP placed money - around 80k - which belonged to her brother into an account which didn’t identify it as his. She had control over it and released amounts of money to him over a period of time. She did all this knowing that he’s ‘cagey’ and without knowing whether he was even working or anything about his financial status.

Of course it’s going to look as dodgy as hell. There were red flags all over the place. If someone you barely know anything about, who’s cagey about their circumstances, asked you to do this, the very obvious answer is ‘no chance.’ The OP should have refused to get involved with someone else’s money. It’s pretty obvious he’s been defrauding the tax payer and she’s been enabling it.

That's a lot. OP made it sound like just a bit left. £32k pay it across into his bank account label as inheritance.

I doubt OP has a record of every transfer! Bet they wished they’d never asked for advice!

I think I am agreeing with you as in call it out now. Yes, I agree I may be being naive but my main point still stands - say so right now. Can't change the past but can start right now doing the right things.

But thank you for correcting me 💐

He is the one commiting benefit fraud and when DWP do find out then they will want back every pound in benefits he has received since inheriting the money if the amount was over 16k or took his savings over 16k. I'm really surprised this wasn't flagged at the time of your dad's death as I thought solicitors had to report this to HMRC who in turn would notify DWP.

@Pickledonion1999even savings below 16k will mean a reduction in benefits - quite rightly as they’re designed for those who are in genuine need. And though he’s the one on benefits, the OP has also acted wrongly in placing his money in an account that’s not attached to him and then drawing amounts out to give to him. She’s clearly facilitated the fraud. She can claim ignorance but of course that’s no defence

It seems ambiguous as to whether a solicitor was involved in the distribution of the estate or, even if they were, whether it was split between op and brother, who then transferred it to her. @BiscoffCheesecakes you need to send him the remaining 32k and ant interest you have accrued over time into his account asap. Tell him in writing (so you have a copy) that he has an obligation to declare it to UC etc.

I'm late to the thread but am replying to only this post.

No they don't know immediately but they will certainly find out at some point. DWP are now doing reviews where you have to supply bank statements for every account you have, and you have to explain all incoming transactions. Some statements only need to go back a few months, some will go back further. OP needs to give her DB his money asap before she is also linked into her brother's fraud. DWP and HMRC are both ramping up on their efforts to find fraud and deprivation of capital.