inheritance affecting benefits

lovetowinacar

fragfesty wrote: »

Does anyone know the rate at which housing and council tax would be reduced based on the £13,000? or the limit at which its stopped altogether? This is getting worse by the second!
Another beneficiary, also on income support etc, is to receive the same amount as myself, but is to be paid £100pw by standing order out of the executors account in accordance with the will, if the money is not received in a lump sum, would this make a difference to the reductions in benefits?
Thanks for your replys, although its not good news, its always better to know what your heading for!

How can you view £13,000 given to you as bad news? You could use it to pay your way. As previously mentioned that is alot of money to many working people so why is it viewed as "bad news" for people on benefits?

tomitma

lovetowinacar wrote: »

How can you view £13,000 given to you as bad news? You could use it to pay your way. As previously mentioned that is alot of money to many working people so why is it viewed as "bad news" for people on benefits?

Because they are claiming benefits, and they are worried that once they inform the DWP of a change of circumstances, they will have to pay there own rent and Council tax, plus there income support is in jepardy, you would have thought that to have that much money they would be willing to pay there own way, instead of worrying about a cut in there benefits. But they still want the tax payers to pay for there home, food, gas electricity, whilst the money remains in the bank!!!!!!!!!!

Kimitatsu

I know this is a difficult topic and OP you are not the first person to ask it so I would ask everyone to be nice please. The OP has come asking for clarification and has realised that the benefits will be reduced proportinally.

To answer your question in full, as you realise your benefits will be reduced proportionally - that also goes for HB and CT too. For tax credits you only need to declare the interest which would be taxable IF it is over £300 a year (thats a joint claim not a singe one) however if you put some of your savings into a tax free investment such as an ISA then no tax is payable and so no declaration needs to be made.

Having the executor hold the money is deprivation of assets and would be viewed very dimly by a compliance officer - whoever has the £100 being paid on a regular basis will have to declare it as income, and being honest will probably make them worse off than you declaring a lump sum. For example if they are on IS of £65 a week but already have £100 a week coming in if they dont declare it they are comitting fraud, if they do declare it then the chances are they will get a nil award for that week although other benefits may still be paid. I dont know their circumstances so it is difficult to comment.

HB and CTB often do checks on properties and bank accounts so please declare it and see what you need to do. It is unlikely you will lose all of your benefit but you are deemed as being able to make some contribution, if your savings drop to below £6000 (after you have paid for reasonable living expenses - not a five star holiday to Jamaica lol) then you are entitled to full benefits again.

cparry

tomitma wrote: »

The £6,000 is per couple, this will affect all of the benefits that you are receiving at the moment, especially Housing benefit and council tax.

Due to changes in the Government, you can no longer hide the money, as checks are done on all new bank/building society accounts being opened. To check that the person is not receiving means tested benefits. Also if you deposit a large amount of money into a bank account that has been opened for a while. I doubt that it can be held in the executors account as once they have done the job the account is closed.

It looks like if you want to do every thing legally, you will soon be paying your own rent and council tax, also income support will be reduced as this is also means tested. Sorry.

I thought I would reply to this thread instead of starting a new one.

My partner will be receiving inheritance in a few months and she has found out that she we will probably be getting more than £6,000 and we are both now worried that this will affect our benefits (Joint income support, child benefit, child tax credit, council tax and housing benefit). We wondered could we open a new Junior ISA for our daughter who is almost 1 and put £3,000 of the inheritance in this account. We think this would reduce the inheritance below the £6,000 mark then and thus not affect out benefits and also help us save for our daughter's future. We are not looking to cheat or break the law we just want to know where we stand. Can anyone help with this dilemma?

Thanks
Craig

molerat

Look up deprivation of assets, it is considered fraud / cheating / breaking the law.

puddy

unless things have changed since my day, if you receive literally a penny in INcome support, you are still entitled to full hb and ctb

Metranil_Vavin

I imagine that might be seen as 'deprivation of capital'

puddy

im not sure it is enough to be considered that. in the scheme of things 6k is not a huge amount of money and to give half of it away to your own child may not been seen as significant but OP would need to get proper advice about this

cparry

molerat wrote: »

Look up deprivation of assets, it is considered fraud / cheating / breaking the law.

I have looked up deprivation of capital and allsorts for hours and days but with no joy. If we opened a Junior ISA I can't see how that will be deprivation as the money is for our child's future and we will not be able to touch this money. Our daughter is the only one who could touch this when she is 18. I hadly think this is deprivation...

It is not as though we are splashing the cash on luxury items but why should we have to use it towards benefits when it can go on our daughter's future?

molerat

There are ways that the money can be spent to reduce the capital, do you need a new car, have you had a holiday in the past few years, do you need any urgent work / repairs / modifications to your home ?