I've been given a question

Legacy_user

I may regret this but:-

whilst chatting to an elderly married couple recently (both over 80 and both married before), they told me they had done two things,

1) made a mirror will, so that who ever dies first, the other will receive, and

2) been off-loading from their individual accounts, small amounts to their respective families, simply to keep their actual accounts below £16,000 (or was it £18,000, I'm unsure), either way, the question to me was, "is this the correct amount to keep below?".

If you can throw any information this way that I could pass on, I and they would be gratefull.

RichyRich

Is this the correct amount to keep below.....for what purpose?

Inheritance Tax?
Healthcare benefits?
Other benefits?
Maintenance liabilities?

All of these will have different threshholds so it depends what they are trying to gain/avoid by staying below.

Rich

System

Oh!, not a simple answer?. I wonder if I should phone them and ask a bit more. I'll give it till after mid-day to see if anyone else has an imput, then see if I can establish what exactly they need to know.

RichyRich

Unless I'm missing something (which is incredibly likely, having done an all nighter)...

Probably best wait for more responses

Rich

Biggles

Could be Council Tax (and maybe Housing) Benefit, there is a cut-off at £16,000, but, as Rich pointed out, it's nowhere near as simple as that.

For example, if they get Guarantee Pension Credit, they'd get full CTB/HB regardless. On the other hand, their Pension Credit may (or may not) be due for a review.

They should probably talk to CAB or similar with all their income details for the full picture.

nrsql

Think it's common for wills to bequeath to families rather than spouse.
If it goes to the spouse then everything is in one estate when it's passed on otherwise you can get two lots of inheritance tax relief.

Tell them to get advice as it's a complicated area and rules keep changing.

System

I'm still watching and reading. I know I said I'd do something today, but will wait till Monday.

dunstonh

They also want to be careful giving money away. If it is for benefits purposes, the benefits agency, if they find out, can decide not to pay the benefit as they have taken actions to obtain benefit.