Children inheriting

heleng27

I wonder if anyone can help me.

I am currently a single mum of two, working part time, get child tax, working tax credits and housing benefits towards the rent part of my shared ownership property.

My grandad has passed away and my mum has said that myself and both my children are beneficiaries. Mine will def be a few thousand but not enough to take me over the 6k which I know that can effect my housing benefit.

The children will get less, but they have had savings from birth and with this additional money they will have about 4k each in savings. Will this have any effect at all on any of my benefits? Do I need to tell anyone about the money to them?

Also does anyone know if I am allowed to use my money to make an over payment on my mortgage or is this deprivation of capital (even though not over 6k)

Sorry for so many questions, just want to make sure I'm doing everything right.

xylophone

The money bequeathed to the children is theirs absolutely- you should keep a copy of the will as evidence of this fact.

If they are under 18 (16 in Scotland) you will hold it for them in bare trust until they become 16/18.

You could put in CTF/JISA perhaps if within the limit?

Presumably the other savings have come from people other than you?
http://www.candidmoney.com/kids/default.aspx
http://bank.virginmoney.com/savings/learn/childrens-accounts/

With regard to your inheritance, tell the council.

paddedjohn

Is their a will or is it just the way your mum is sharing out the cash? are the kids savings in separate child savings accounts?

heleng27

They are named on the will. All the grandchildren/great grandchildren are receiving a percentage of the estate and the figures I give are just a guide from my mum. These wont change drastically

heleng27

When I was married we used to pay regular amount into their accounts but that stopped when I separated from their father. All other money was when they were born, christening, birthdays and Xmas money from relatives, I still pay in Xmas and birthday money.

iammumtoone

I believe there is a rule about how much children can hold in savings accounts. I remember having to answer the question something along the lines of 'Does you child have savings over xxxx' I am sorry I can't remember the amount as my son had less than this.

It does make sense that the rule is there otherwise in theory you could have people putting money in their childs name, a child could have 100K and that person is still able to claim full benefits?

As you can prove the money came via a will it might be treated differently. I suggest you are upfront about it, it is not a fortune so I can't see it effecting your claim greatly. if it does at all.

What type of mortgage do you have? I have a flexible mortgage which I had overpaid on. When I stated my claim I had to declare the over-payments as savings. I have since taken out and spent the money but if it has remained there it would treated as savings.

[Deleted User]

the question for some if not all benefits is "does your child/children have more than £3000 in savings"

xylophone

The money bequeathed direct to a child in a will legally belongs to that child absolutely,not to the parent.

the OP does not give details of the amount that each child is to receive, but she might wish to use up to the allowance in the CTF/ISA which certainly puts the money beyond her reach until the child is 18 - anything over and above should be held in bare trust for the child and possibly paid into CTF/ISA as appropriate in future years - the OP should be prepared to demonstrate if required that any accounts held in bare trust are not being accessed for her use?