inheritance whilst claiming housing benefit

col608

I would just like to reply in response to skcollobcat, thanks for your comments.
My father and Mother were and have always been hard working pillars of the community and had there own successful businesses until my Father had a massive stroke two years ago that rendered him paralysed and unable to work. In the same year, my Mother had an idiot break her leg and left her now on walking sticks. My Mum despite her condition worked tirelessly caring for my Father until he died last year as i said. During which time the house got repossessed and they lost all their life savings and anything they had accumulated.
Mum is now on benefits because of circumstance and not by choice. I hope you appreciate i am trying to find a way that my Mother can have a little quality out of something after a life of hard work planning for her retirement that got snatched from her so brutally.
I realise that she SHOULD be grateful for a large inheritance but as she has now lost everything she cannot use it as she would have before being on benefits

dmg24

Is there any reason why mum cannot look for a job, so meaning she could be self sufficient and keep her savings for the future?

cassieB57

so that's what she should use the money for..to give herself a quality of life as your dad wished; as he left it solely to her and not to the whole family he must have intended it for that very reason, so she would not have to worry about money. (Nor about being found out by the authorities for benefit fraud)

PasturesNew

Two things here:
1] Housing benefit is to stop people being out on the street; it puts a roof over their head. How much is her rent? With the £100k invested, the interest would probably pay most of her rent for the next couple of years, then when interest rates etc rise it'd end up paying it all probably.

2] Not everywhere in Cornwall is expensive, £100k is enough to buy a few lovely little places. I don't know which part she's in, but picking one or two at random:
1] Cheapest house right now is £60k, but I am suspicious of this one .... http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29089234.html
2] Next cheapest happens to be a retirement bungalow, near Penzance, at £70k http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-15599097.html
3] Next one's £75k, but it's in Camborne (and nobody lives there by choice) and it needs a bit of work so I refuse to link to it.
4] I've ignored auction properties, except this one looked fine ... until I spotted it has a huge mineshaft under it http://media.rightmove.co.uk/58k/57179/17930940/57179_AUC110028_IMG_03_0000.JPG - St Ives, £75k, there's always a reason for a cheapie.
5] Next one's £76k, but don't touch it - it's dire .... and in a bad position too http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-28335901.html

So, I'm sure if she spent all the money it'd be possible to have a nice house, but the market "starts" lower than her budget.... it's just the first few cheapies have issues

col608

Thanks Pastures new for your efforts. Ive had an idea as i know my Mum is keen to stay in the house she is currently in. If my Mum was to pay £80k off my Mortgage and my payments dropped by £550 per month. I then paid that to her in order to pay her rent on the house she lives in, would there be any legal implications then?
Obviously she will lose her council tax benefit and housing benefit. I am guessing without talking to her they would both amount to £550 pcm..ish?
This way she could continue living in the same house?

PasturesNew

I kept looking, first house without any issues that I could see/think of, would be this one. Nice and newish:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-28359422.html - although it doesn't appear to have any heating to speak of.

And this, south of Camborne, not the best looking bird at the dance, but there's some potential charm in it http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-18028017.html (if you can stop it looking like something that'd be built on the approach road to Father Ted's bleak house).

So, nothing spectacular, but some that'd "do" if she did want to buy... she's not entirely priced out. And I only looked at houses; I didn't look at flats or mobile homes or shared ownership.

And prices are still falling.

I'd say the best thing to do though would be invest the £100k and use the interest to pay as much of her rent as possible, to minimise how much she was spending of the £100k and use the next 12-18 months to work out what she wants to do.

tsstss7

cassieB57 wrote: »

so that's what she should use the money for..to give herself a quality of life as your dad wished; as he left it solely to her and not to the whole family he must have intended it for that very reason, so she would not have to worry about money. (Nor about being found out by the authorities for benefit fraud)

The problem here is that having read up a bit it seems to me that spending anything above and beyond her normal benefits level can be seen as deprivation of assets unless real need can be proven. I read up a bit about it a while back (as it seems to crop up here a lot and I'm interested in stuff) and so realistically she won't get to be any more comfortable than she was on benefits.

tsstss7

col608 wrote: »

Thanks Pastures new for your efforts. Ive had an idea as i know my Mum is keen to stay in the house she is currently in. If my Mum was to pay £80k off my Mortgage and my payments dropped by £550 per month. I then paid that to her in order to pay her rent on the house she lives in, would there be any legal implications then?
Obviously she will lose her council tax benefit and housing benefit. I am guessing without talking to her they would both amount to £550 pcm..ish?
This way she could continue living in the same house?

She will lose All means tested benefits for the prescribed time - not just housing ones. PN's advice is fairly sound I'd say -a hundred k would make a fairly big return. If she could then combine that with a part time job she would prob be pretty well off.

cassieB57

col608 wrote: »

Thanks Pastures new for your efforts. Ive had an idea as i know my Mum is keen to stay in the house she is currently in. If my Mum was to pay £80k off my Mortgage and my payments dropped by £550 per month. I then paid that to her in order to pay her rent on the house she lives in, would there be any legal implications then?
Obviously she will lose her council tax benefit and housing benefit. I am guessing without talking to her they would both amount to £550 pcm..ish?
This way she could continue living in the same house?

So she pays off £80k of YOUR mortgage-what about your sister; would she be happy with that arrangement? The suppose for example you became unemployed and unable to pay her the £550 a month-she would have no savings AND no entitlement to benefits; not what your Dad had in mind, if he wanted you to have the lion's share he would not have left it to your mum. Is that what you want for her? She has struggled to care for your Dad, now she deserves a little comfort and security surely?

cassieB57

tsstss7 wrote: »

The problem here is that having read up a bit it seems to me that spending anything above and beyond her normal benefits level can be seen as deprivation of assets unless real need can be proven. I read up a bit about it a while back (as it seems to crop up here a lot and I'm interested in stuff) and so realistically she won't get to be any more comfortable than she was on benefits.

This only applies in the event that she tried to claim income related benefits again in the near future, and if her main or significant purpose in spending the money was to claim benefits she was not otherwise entitled to. At 61 she must be near or over pension age so has she not got a state pension? She should be able to live quite well if she invests the money wisely.