Declaring an inheritance while on benefits

tekman

Earlier this year my younger sister and boyfriend coerced my mentally ill and dying of cancer mother to write her will and they were oddly named as two of the beneficiaries and they would be receiving half of my mother's estate. Sounds a bit like sour grapes on my part but going into details here would take up far too much space and distract from my main points.
Suffice to say these two are not exactly favored by me.
Both of them will be receiving over fifty five thousand pound each,. Both are claiming Housing , council tax and some kind of personal income support and my sister who has been claiming child benefit for years when her child doesn't even live with her is clearly defrauding the state.

I understand if one is on benefits yo can have up to £16,000 in savings. If you are a beneficiary of a will you have to report your change in circumstances along with the amount to the benefits office. Am I right so far?

If so, I believe it is highly unlikely that they will report their change in circumstance because of the cash they are receiving which is totally illegal and furthermore unfair on those who have a genuine need for benefits.

Both my older sister and I have discussed this in great depth and think we have a moral obligation to report the pair of them or at least advise the benefit fraud section of our suspicions.

One other thing. Does anyone know if a beneficiary of a will can ask the solicitor to transfer the money in to a bank account not in their name as to avoid having to declare the amount if they happen to be on benefits.

specialboy

A beneficiary can refuse to accept their bequest but they can't say where it should end up. If they are due say £50k then the solicitor/administrator would be failing in their duty to not ensure it is given to the named person. Blow them up ASAP.

Poppie68

With regards to the bank account they will follow the money if she tries to hide it . The easiest way for them is to get the details of the account from the solicitor. Your sister sounds like a charmer I would report her.

tekman

Thanks for that, these two have hurt my family for so long and disrespected both my parents who are sadly both dead now. You know, the money is one thing and as far as my older sister and I are concerned just irritating.
My sister is concerned about possible retribution for reporting them which I guess is understandable as she has kids but then so do I.
I am still of the opinion that regardless of it being personal, which it most definitely is, these two are criminals and should be dealt with accordingly.

Poppie68

tekman wrote: »

Thanks for that, these two have hurt my family for so long and disrespected both my parents who are sadly both dead now. You know, the money is one thing and as far as my older sister and I are concerned just irritating.
My sister is concerned about possible retribution for reporting them which I guess is understandable as she has kids but then so do I.
I am still of the opinion that regardless of it being personal, which it most definitely is, these two are criminals and should be dealt with accordingly.

You don't have to give your details when you report them... They wouldn't give out that information anyway.

Mojisola

tekman wrote: »

I understand if one is on benefits yo can have up to £16,000 in savings. If you are a beneficiary of a will you have to report your change in circumstances along with the amount to the benefits office. Am I right so far?

There's a sliding scale for affected benefits - more than £6k starts to affect what you get; more the £16k and you can't claim.

If so, I believe it is highly unlikely that they will report their change in circumstance because of the cash they are receiving which is totally illegal and furthermore unfair on those who have a genuine need for benefits.

Both my older sister and I have discussed this in great depth and think we have a moral obligation to report the pair of them or at least advise the benefit fraud section of our suspicions.

Report them, giving details of the will. Send a copy if you can.

One other thing. Does anyone know if a beneficiary of a will can ask the solicitor to transfer the money in to a bank account not in their name as to avoid having to declare the amount if they happen to be on benefits.

A solicitor would have to be pretty dodgy before he/she would do this. The inheritance has to go to the named beneficiary - writing a cheque to someone else's account wouldn't fulfil the executor's duties.

tekman

Another thought has occurred to me, Maybe I don't have to report them after all. Let me explain, The solicitor has to report the details of the estate and those who benefit from the estate to the Inland Revenue anyway and surely this would make its way back to the benefits department at some point in time which in turn would raise the alarm on these two.
Mind you that could take some time I guess. Any thoughts on this please?

Mojisola

tekman wrote: »

Earlier this year my younger sister and boyfriend coerced my mentally ill and dying of cancer mother to write her will and they were oddly named as two of the beneficiaries and they would be receiving half of my mother's estate.

Was this a home-made will or was a solicitor involved?

TELLIT01

Communication between HMRC (Inland Revenue) and DWP and other agencies is virtually non-existent. You really should report it. Simply search for "Reporting benefit fraud". The first entry is the Government website.

tekman

Mojisola wrote: »

Was this a home-made will or was a solicitor involved?

No this was done through a solicitor but annoyingly my older sister and I were kept out of the loop until after the will was made. Unfortunately I don't live in the UK anymore and despite maintaining as much communication as possible with my mother and older sister this whole process was imho done underhandedly. I was informed by email one day that my younger sisters boyfriend had been granted power of attorney which infuriated me as he isn't even family and has sub sequentially name as quarter share beneficiary.
When my father died, my younger sister kept hassling both my older sister and I about dad's will which set alarm bells ringing as she has a MO for fleecing relatives and ex husbands. Anyway my dad didn't leave a will which at the time I thought was foolish but i took care of the paperwork ensuring that everything was processed correctly and had his entire estate transferred to my now mentally ill mother which was the legal thing to do. And it only took a month to sort out.
I guess in one respect, now I understand why my sister and her boyfriend were so eager to get mum to write a will, which incidentally she wrote nothing out, just apparently agreed to the typed contents which I am certain she wouldn't have fully comprehended and added her very shakily written signature to. If she hadn't done a will the estate would have been divided between her three children, ie the boyfriend of my younger sister wouldn't have had a look in.

tekman

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Communication between HMRC (Inland Revenue) and DWP and other agencies is virtually non-existent. You really should report it. Simply search for "Reporting benefit fraud". The first entry is the Government website.

That is interesting as much as it is disappointing.
I do have the benefit fraud details I just wanted to get some feedback from folk like you and all of those who have been kind enough to respond to my post.
many thanks