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?

From an estate POV you can do whatever you like as long as every beneficiary with capacity agrees.

That doesn’t change peoples legal liabilities though - so for benefits they are still classed as having the money (basically it’s seen as them gifting the money away). You cannot legally give away money to make yourself eligible/still eligible for means tested benefits.

I’ve no idea about tax as I only worked this for DWP and CMS.

The seriousness of it depends entirely on the amounts, which the Op hasn’t mentioned. 6k is the limit for no impact on means tested benefits, 16 the point you lose it.

It can take a long time for them to pick up on things. The last case I did with CMS was someone who’d inherited and gave it away 6 years previously. Obviously there are lots of small cases they don’t pick up on, but there are lots that they do.

If this was done to keep benefits it’s illegal
if the person is dead you can’t change / remove beneficiary’s

well you can using a DOV
but not in order for a person to keep benefits
this would be seen as deprivation of capital

This.

Stop enabling him to commit fraud. We all suffer when people like your brother continue with benefits when they shouldn't. Send him his money and then forget about it.

Exactly
my sister is on long term benefits she won’t work / can’t work due to disability
when my late parents did the their wills they left money to the grandkids as it wouldn’t have meant my sister was any better off
My sister was given 5k and some jewelry my late parents car and other bits and pieces

I was the executor so all the money came to me and then I gave it to the beneficiaries to

It’s perfectly legal to do this either in the original will or via Deed of Variation.

Money is not inherited by the benefits claimant, it goes into a trust of which they are the sole beneficiary. The trust is managed by anyone you nominate.

It is quite routine to do this in situations with ongoing care and benefits needs.

Agreed. I work in benefits advice and this is not how the DWP would view it.

In the case in point, however, this didn't happen. The OP's question about whether she could be charged with fraud is pertinent - that she didn't apparently know her brother asked her to hold his inheritance for him to commit benefit fraud may not be sufficient defence in law.

yes. cannot change the will after its been executed

Due to GDPR how could you possibly know that your brother was on benefits? That information is not yours, you kept hold of the money in good faith.

I can’t imagine why you’d be in trouble for fraud re DWP, what your brother does isn’t down to you. I think that you’d be wise to make sure that you have everything in writing from your brother. It’s an odd situation.

You have done nothing wrong. How will anyone find out some of your savings are your brother’s if it is in your name unless you or your brother report it to the DWP? If anything came back to you about the cash transferred to his account for his holidays, etc you say it is a gift from you. Relax. x

The OP will not be down for fraud. They don’t even charge the man with fraud when single mums have continued to claim as single whilst living with a partner. They only charge the single mum. OP had nothing to do with her brother’s benefits claim.

The only issue is that she paid the money from the estates directly to herself.

that she didn't apparently know her brother asked her to hold his inheritance for him to commit benefit fraud may not be sufficient defence in law.

that is for the court to prove that she did know her brother was on benefit, surely as she is bound to tell the truth on oath and its not her job to prove her innocence

Completely agree.

OPs risk is around not distributing the estate, what evidence and paperwork does she have to explain why she kept the money.

But I was also answering all the comments about how it is in fact legal to divert an inheritance to protect benefits.

That's no use to the OP because the money has already been distributed from the estate. It's already the brother's money. The proof of this is that he's already directed where it should be kept (in his sister's account) and how it is to be used (asking for what he wants for his holidays etc). The sister is not holding the money as a discretionary trustee, and presumably wouldn't refuse to give him anything he asks for because she knows that's not what their arrangement is. You can't just turn back time to the point of distribution.

It’s quite common for people to put money in the child’s account for these sorts of reasons.

Putting money into a trust isn’t the same as a simple Deed of variation

Which isn’t remotely the same a a simple DOV, as you originally stated. Trusts are a different thing altogether.

and isn’t remotely relevant to the OP given the money was put into her account years ago

wrong. In the UK, you absolutely can have up to 4 joint executors

Fraud requires you to have behaved deliberately. Google is your friend here.

He’s cheating us all (the public) out of money.

Tell him you’ve realised this and it’s now his choice to take all the remaining money or to give it all to you and never expect any more from you.

And she "now know's he's on benefits" (from her OP). So going forward, if she just carries on with the arrangement, she's deliberately assisting him with his fraud.

Oh yeah it’s absolutely time to foist this onto him. Give him his money.

She absolutely shouldn’t keep it so he can never go after her as executor and claim she kept his money.

I not condoning his actions but how do you feel about multi millionaires getting out of paying taxes, companies worth millions paying their employees a pittance who have to claim universal credit to up their income?? Our taxes are supporting these super wealthy people and corporations. That cheeses me off a lot more than a normal single man claiming some benefit who has some spare cash in his sister’s bank account.