inheritance affecting benefits

puddy

cparry wrote: »

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?

but thats what deprivation is, its giving away/spending money (in whatever form) so that you still qualify for something

it is a huge area within elderly care. some elderly people give away their home or their savings to their children as an inheritence for their future so that they will get free nursing care. that is considered deprivation of assetts/income

however, on such a small amount i wonder if it will really count in your case. is it only just over the 6k or is it much more?

Edinburgh65

So unexpectedly receiving £13k isn't classed as good news. Admittedly, someone close to you has died, and from most folks' perspectives that doesn't balance out with the "gain", but seriously!?

RAS

cparry wrote: »

I. 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?

I suspect that would be considered deprivation of assets because what counts is the amount of the inheritance. You will not lose much benefit anyway and in time your capital will drop below £6K anyway.

The benefits people do check details of beneficiaries and query variances and undeclared inheritances.

However if your cooker is on it last legs, you could certainly replace that with a decent but not expensive one.

molerat

cparry wrote: »

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?

The money is not your daughter's it is yours so by giving it away you have reduced your assets. If I gave my savings away (which I use to supplement my pension) to help my kids I could probably claim benefits, would this be right ?

cparry

molerat wrote: »

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 ?

My partner thinks she will be getting near £10,000 inheritance. We do need a new family vehicle as we are currently without one having recently had to scrap it. We also need to make home improvements and are getting married next year and would like to renew passports and book a honeymoon - these things we cannot afford on our benefits. Are you saying we would be allowed to spend some of the inheritance on these things and likely reduce the inheritance below £6,000 and it will not affect our benefits?

puddy

as an ex benefits officer I wouldnt really see this has a huge problem. I remember having cases where we had to ask for proof of what the money was spent on and if I saw that it was for a 3k car, a cooker and a wedding dress, theres no way I would be considering that as deprivation

however, times have changed so I couldnt guarantee the response now

cparry

molerat wrote: »

The money is not your daughter's it is yours so by giving it away you have reduced your assets. If I gave my savings away (which I use to supplement my pension) to help my kids I could probably claim benefits, would this be right ?

Good point! But you are not being penalised for having savings so theres no need to give your savings away, It's always the same the government get you all ways. It's not a huge amount of inheritance which we will be getting (WE DO NOT HAVE ANY SAVINGS ALREADY) but they penalise you for having this small inheritance by reducing our benefits and then restricting how you spend or use it? It's punishment for the poor. I don't understand there isn't any fairness for this especially for us as a new family struggling to get by.

cparry

puddy wrote: »

as an ex benefits officer I wouldnt really see this has a huge problem. I remember having cases where we had to ask for proof of what the money was spent on and if I saw that it was for a 3k car, a cooker and a wedding dress, theres no way I would be considering that as deprivation

however, times have changed so I couldnt guarantee the response now

I hope the benefit's system and officers are similar today. Just out of interest what things would you have considered as deprivation?

Kimitatsu

If YOU put the money into a child ISA then it is still classed as family income - the only exception to this is if the money comes from a grandparent or is an inheritence of their own (you have to prove that the money did not come from you)

Passports and a honeymoon are considered a luxury so you would not be allowed those, but a new car could be considered a neccessity.

HTH

Edinburgh65

The way things are today, all sorts of people are "losing", money, but if this country is ever going to get back on its feet, then people need to take responsibility for themselves and accept that there is not always a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

In addition to things such as are dealing with, people are having to deal with all sorts of drains on their finances, ie. huge shortfalls on endowment mortgages, if they have for example been saving towards a shortfall and have unexpectedly fopund themselves out of work.

It's not a happy situation for most people, but if people don't try to help themselves then the UK is never ever going to get back on its feet?