Inheritance affecting benefits

Caz3121

Rowansceptre wrote: »

What about the possibility of a mortgage? Bearing in mind there are 5 of us.

mortgages tend to require income. There may be some lenders that count some benefits as income but unless you are in a very cheap area it will be unlikely.
child tax credits will also not be affected (you would declare the interest as other income if it is over £300 per annum)

Mojisola

If your youngest is 3, it won't be long before you will be able to look for some work, even if it's only part-time. Living off your own money instead of means-tested benefits will give you some flexibility to try different things without worrying whether what you're doing is against the rules.

It must be difficult, having your wife needing care and losing her parents but if you can look on the inheritance as a few years of freedom from benefits, you will see things more positively.

Rowansceptre

You are all right, of course! Short-term self sufficiency is better than none.

LL30

Have you had any social services input regarding help for your wife? If you wanted to work, then your wife would need additional help - could be worth thinking about. It's very easy to think you might not be able to afford to work, but you will get a lot of assistance with regards to childcare etc (up to 70%) I'm just thinking of the bigger picture - you have a wad of money coming your way, ideal for a deposit on a house, to get a house, you need a job....Or you can live off the 50K until you you get below 16K again and start claiming the means tested benefits again - chance to buy a house lost and you're back being state dependent.

I don't know you're personal circumstances, so maybe that's not a good suggestion for you but could be worth further investigation

Rowansceptre

Cake and Eat it comes to mind!

That kind of comment won't be welcomed by anybody!! Rather rude and unhelpful by anybody standards.

Thanks for the sarcasm Dognobs!
I hope your parents are fortunate enough to live long and fruitful lives.

Rowansceptre

Thanks LL30. Food for thought.

Mojisola

LL30 wrote: »

Have you had any social services input regarding help for your wife?

Do follow up all possibilities of help. Have you had a Carer's Assessment? Do you have an emergency plan in place with the Social Work team for what would happen if you were taken ill, had an accident or needed to go into hospital? Do you have some arrangements in place for childcare if your wife needed to go back into hospital?

Could you get help from Crossroads - https://www.crossroads.org.uk/
They provide a couple of hours respite for carers.

Have you tried HomeStart - https://www.home-start.org.uk/homepage

rogerblack

dseventy wrote: »

This kind of mindset really gets peoples upset here.

Its upsetting that your partner lost her parents, but they left her (and you and your kids) some money to make your life better.

Since no-one in the house earns a living, its a chance to be self-sufficient and look after your family without someone doing it for you.

I can see the point of many of the people who want to have their cake and eat it.

The point is the above.
The money has invariably been given to make the persons life better.

But, with the exception of the very largest amounts, it's going to be 3, 4 or 5 years of living as if you were on benefits, and perhaps wondering if you will be able to re-qualify at the other end.

You can't (safely) do anything enjoyable with that money, and may face an accounting of how you spent it when you go to reapply for benefits.

This is probably not what the person giving the money imagined it doing.

t0rt0ise

Dognobs wrote: »

Cake and Eat it comes to mind!

It is usual for those with Aspergers to learn from their mistakes. To simply claim that you can say what you like and claim Aspergers is rubbish. Stop playing on it and get real.

paddedjohn

Rowansceptre wrote: »

Cake and Eat it comes to mind!

That kind of comment won't be welcomed by anybody!! Rather rude and unhelpful by anybody standards.

Thanks for the sarcasm Dognobs!
I hope your parents are fortunate enough to live long and fruitful lives.

That kind of comment is welcome to me and probably a lot of other users of these forums because it is completely accurate. You are in a position to look after your own family for a couple of years without relying exclusively on benefits, and in a couple of years you may find that you can get to work even if only part-time when the kids are in school or at night when all are sleeping.
You DO want to have your cake and eat it while you squirrel away £50k and still get the state to pay your bills.