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Deprivation of assets for 80+ year old
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Middledyke
Posts: 29 Forumite
I have a question about what Mum can do with an unexpected windfall - as she is about to inherit around £70,000! This is from my late Dad who, although they'd lived separately for over 20 years, had never actually divorced or made it a legal separation, so she is the only legal beneificiary! Despite my Dad wanting the money to be shared out between his 5 children and numerous grand-children, and leaving lots of 'notes' to this effect, unfortunately he didn't do a flipping will, so Mum HAS to inherit even though she doesn't WANT it ... really she doesn't ... but can't do anything about it and feels very guilty that she's having to have it at all and it is causing he a lot of concern.
Mum is a spritely 80+ and is in very good heath overall, with no mobility or mental issues. In fact, she regularly does what are called 'patch walks' with a chap from the local council (they wander round a set area for a few hours and make a note of work/repairs that need doing (repairs to roads, pavements etc) so they normally walk a minimum of 5 miles and the chap she does it with is knackered at the end whilst she's still going strong! Neither of her parents or grandparents went into any care home facility and mostly lived well into their 90s and just died peacefully in their sleep. We genuinely have no reason to believe that she will ever need to go into a care home especially since we would do all we could to enable her to continue to live in her own home anyway if it came to it (council flat).
She's currently on benefits but obviously we know they will stop once she has received the money. She will still get her basic state pension but will need to top it up with some of the money therefore a large chunk needs to be set aside for this in an account in her name which she can access as/when she needs it. She is also considering buying her council flat as this would reduce her outgoings - a saving of around £3,000 a year on rent - a first time buyer in her 80s!
As she feels guilty about the money she's inheriting, she wants to give a large chunk of it away - note that SHE really wants to do this. We are all more than happy for her to keep it and have suggest that she uses it to buy herself a nice little flat somewhere else (with more facilities etc for her) which she can legally do, but she won't as she simply can't come to terms with 'benefitting' from something she doesn't feel is hers!
What I'm trying to do is get my head around the implications for HER if she does insist on giving a large amount of the money away.
As we don't envisage a need for care home costs in the future, could this therefore mean that it would not be seen as a deliberate ploy to avoid any if unfortunately something happened and she DID need it?
If she does go ahead with purchasing her council flat (probably worth around £50,000 at present) obviously that would be an 'asset' which would still be in her name - in effect she would have used some of the money to buy another 'asset' so if necessary a charge could be put against this by the council to cover any unexpected care home liability in the future.
I'm just trying to get the overall picture as she's a very determined lady (stubborn!) and needs to be fully aware of the implications before making a decision as to whether or not to go ahead with this. There is no attempt to 'hide' anything or obtain any benefits etc by deception, we're just trying to protect her from herself!!
:cool:
Mum is a spritely 80+ and is in very good heath overall, with no mobility or mental issues. In fact, she regularly does what are called 'patch walks' with a chap from the local council (they wander round a set area for a few hours and make a note of work/repairs that need doing (repairs to roads, pavements etc) so they normally walk a minimum of 5 miles and the chap she does it with is knackered at the end whilst she's still going strong! Neither of her parents or grandparents went into any care home facility and mostly lived well into their 90s and just died peacefully in their sleep. We genuinely have no reason to believe that she will ever need to go into a care home especially since we would do all we could to enable her to continue to live in her own home anyway if it came to it (council flat).
She's currently on benefits but obviously we know they will stop once she has received the money. She will still get her basic state pension but will need to top it up with some of the money therefore a large chunk needs to be set aside for this in an account in her name which she can access as/when she needs it. She is also considering buying her council flat as this would reduce her outgoings - a saving of around £3,000 a year on rent - a first time buyer in her 80s!
As she feels guilty about the money she's inheriting, she wants to give a large chunk of it away - note that SHE really wants to do this. We are all more than happy for her to keep it and have suggest that she uses it to buy herself a nice little flat somewhere else (with more facilities etc for her) which she can legally do, but she won't as she simply can't come to terms with 'benefitting' from something she doesn't feel is hers!
What I'm trying to do is get my head around the implications for HER if she does insist on giving a large amount of the money away.
As we don't envisage a need for care home costs in the future, could this therefore mean that it would not be seen as a deliberate ploy to avoid any if unfortunately something happened and she DID need it?
If she does go ahead with purchasing her council flat (probably worth around £50,000 at present) obviously that would be an 'asset' which would still be in her name - in effect she would have used some of the money to buy another 'asset' so if necessary a charge could be put against this by the council to cover any unexpected care home liability in the future.
I'm just trying to get the overall picture as she's a very determined lady (stubborn!) and needs to be fully aware of the implications before making a decision as to whether or not to go ahead with this. There is no attempt to 'hide' anything or obtain any benefits etc by deception, we're just trying to protect her from herself!!
:cool:
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Comments
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if she gives the money away then for benefit purposes she will be treated as still having the money
unless she uses it to buy property,which she can then will to whoever she wants when she passes away
its simple really,a very black and white issue with no grey areas0 -
if she gives the money away then for benefit purposes she will be treated as still having the money
unless she uses it to buy property,which she can then will to whoever she wants when she passes away
its simple really,a very black and white issue with no grey areas
The problem is John that it ISN'T as black and white as that, there are lots of 'grey areas' (not 50 though!
). I can't find a consistent answer about all of this, hence my questions. I've arranged a 'video link' meeting with the Citizens Advice Bureau on Wednesday so hopefully they will be able to give me more information needed but I'm not holding out any hope that they will be able to give me a definitive answer ... it's a flipping mine-field! :eek: 0 -
Can't your mother do a Deed of Variation?
aaaaargh, it won't let me post the link. Google Deed of Variation for a Will.0 -
Middledyke wrote: »She's currently on benefits but obviously we know they will stop once she has received the money. She will still get her basic state pension but will need to top it up with some of the money therefore a large chunk needs to be set aside for this in an account in her name which she can access as/when she needs it. She is also considering buying her council flat as this would reduce her outgoings - a saving of around £3,000 a year on rent - a first time buyer in her 80s!
If she does go ahead with purchasing her council flat (probably worth around £50,000 at present) obviously that would be an 'asset' which would still be in her name - in effect she would have used some of the money to buy another 'asset' so if necessary a charge could be put against this by the council to cover any unexpected care home liability in the future.
Realistically, she'd be foolish to give any of it away.
Say she spends £50k on the council house. She will now be responsible for all maintenance and repairs.
She will have £20k left which means she won't be able to continue claiming benefits (unless she's on Pension Credit and is within an AIP) so she will need that money to top up her pension.0 -
mystic_trev wrote: »Can't your mother do a Deed of Variation?
This will still count as DOC.0 -
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