Beneficiary asking for payment to be made to a different account

Margot123 wrote: »

Some benefits aren't affected by temporary balances. These include inheritances being used to fund the buying of a house to live in, adaptations to an existing (or future) property for disabled people etc. I think the time limit is 6 months, or 12 months for those over State Pension age.

Cetainly it is means tested benefits that can be affected. However, the claimant has to be open about any legacy that might affect the benefit. Diverting it elsewhere is likely to raise questions about their claim.

Have you done a bankruptcy/IVA check on them. They could be trying to avoid the cash going to creditors/being grabbed for an unauthorised overdraft/to avoid a spouse getting hold of it in a divorce etc. You could be personally liable for it if do not act properly in checking for bankruptcy etc.

I would be quite suspicious, though it could be for an innocent reason. Protect your back though.

Although as a layperson, you will only be expected to check the Bankruptcy register as other systems are not always publicly available.

I would think one reason not to pay by bank transfer is to prevent what the OP was originally asking.

If somebody gives you bank details then there is no guarantee that it is their account.

However if you know the beneficiary well and are fairly sure that they are not trying a fiddle then there is no problem

silvercar wrote: »

It may be that their bank account is in overdraft, or breached an overdraft limit, and they want to spend their inheritance not use it to clear debt. Or that they want to hide the inheritance from someone who has access to that account. Plenty of innocent explanations, but dodgy ones too.

In both these cases the beneficiary could simply open a second current account in their own name and pay the cheque into it. Therefore the advice to an executor who has been asked to pay into a third party's account for those reasons remains the same: don't do it.

There is nothing technically wrong with not paying off an overdraft, however overdrafts are so expensive that it is difficult to imagine why someone who'd inherited money wouldn't pay it off immediately. Unless they are planning on spending / concealing the money and then declaring bankruptcy, at which point it becomes dodgy.