Hiding assets

seven-day-weekend

I would tell them straight that what they are proposing is fraud and that you are not going to do it for that reason. No arguments.

Anyway, it won't hurt them to pay their own Council Tax for a while.

dippy3103

It's deprivation of capital. So if it came to light the question of when probate was obtained would arise.
Benefits are for those in need- if someone has money that is lawfully theirs why should they claim?

dippy3103

It's still deprivation of capital.
Her life was sorted and age no longer needed benefits.

FBaby

I like the analogy of winning the lottery! Would someone be crazy enough to find a way to not get it as soon as possible so that you could continue to claim benefits for as long as possible? The only reason why some people consider it with inheritance is because the sums are usually much smaller.

jackyann

Can I suggest that OP speaks to the Probate Office? We have found them very helpful.
As I understand it, money can be transferred to another party. Just before he died, my dad asked my sister & me (his executors) to make sure half of the estate went to our children (the will left it to us)
In this case, neither of us were claiming benefits of any kind, so fraud didn't apply. We were happy to follow his wishes, and simply made out cheques from the probate account to the children, and the Probate Office were fine about it.

So, in my experience, OP could give the money to a 3rd party at the beneficiary's request. As they know this is being done for fraudulent reasons it puts them in a difficult position.
I tend to agree that they should just write the cheque to the original beneficiary and let them sort it out.
But I do think the Probate Office can advise - it won't be the first time they have been asked this!

silvercar

You can alter a will after death, with the consent of all the beneficiaries.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page21.htm

Mojisola

silvercar wrote: »

You can alter a will after death, with the consent of all the beneficiaries.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page21.htm

You only need the consent of beneficiaries who are affected by the proposed changes.

If you do a deed of variation so that you don't receive an inheritance and continue to claim means tested benefits, that would be deprivation of capital.

rogerblack

silvercar wrote: »

The executor would not be committing fraud as it would be the beneficiaries who make the decision to vary the will and there is no obligation on the beneficiaries to explain the reasons behind their actions to the executor.

Neglecting anything else - conspiracy to commit fraud is also a thing.