Declaring an inheritance while on benefits

cattermole

You could contest the will if you think it was coerced and your mother didnt have full capacity.

If you and your other sister are not in a rush for the money or an end to it?

You should report her anyway if you think there is benefit fraud regardless of the will.

[Deleted User]

OP you are correct it does sound like sour grapes,it riles me when people who know others are/will be committing fraud come on here looking for some justification...either do it or don't...end of

tekman

cattermole wrote: »

You could contest the will if you think it was coerced and your mother didnt have full capacity.

If you and your other sister are not in a rush for the money or an end to it?

You should report her anyway if you think there is benefit fraud regardless of the will.

Contesting the will is something we did discuss but to be honest we are not in the financial position to do so and furthermore a threatening email from the boyfriend to the solicitor was purposely forwarded to my older sister clearly expressing their fear that we would be contesting the will and that they were going to take out an insurance policy to protect the money from any claim if the will was contested which indicates to me their further guilt in this matter. And because I hadn't signed off the accounts at that time (which I actually had but it was delayed because of power cuts where I live) that they were looking to get a court ruling against me for holding up the process. I actually laughed at how pathetic their desperation to see an end to their evil plan was.

tekman

woodbine wrote: »

OP you are correct it does sound like sour grapes,it riles me when people who know others are/will be committing fraud come on here looking for some justification...either do it or don't...end of

Trouble is John, I can't post up all the details and believe me or not, if I did you would fully understand the full circumstances. With that been said, I didn't post this scenario online to try to justify if we should report it or not, merely expressing a few concerns regarding retribution as these folk are not nice people and know some rather nasty individuals. I also needed some guidance on some questions where I was unsure of the answers.

They will be reported that is a given.


But thanks for your comments

epitome

The inheritance has to be reported to DWP once it hits their bank account, until then, the money is not theirs and DWP does not want to know.

However, if you report it during probate, it could cause DWP to suspend their claims until they get a letter from the solicitor to confirm it is still within probate. At which time, benefits would recommence.

You should report the Child Benefit abuse now, but I'm not sure on the rules of Child Benefit, to know if that is definately fraud. It would help the fraud team if you know the name and address of the person who the child is living with.

Do you know if they live together and are claiming as a couple or are they claiming as single people and not telling DWP they are a couple living together?

If you really wanted to stick it to them, you could wait for a year and then report the inheritance to DWP fraud. (give them time to commit the offence). If they hadn't reported it by then to DWP, they would have fraudulently been receiving benefits. The DWP only take cases worth more than £2,000 to court.
After a year it would be worth more than £2000 to the DWP and they would have to pay it all back, plus a fine (or imprisonment) and a criminal record.

Can you get insurance to cover an invalid will? Doesn't sound plausible to me. How much would it cost to contest it?

tomtom256

Once probate has been granted on a will this is when a person legally own's the inheritance and that is the point it needs to be declared.

It makes no difference when it hit's the bank account as sometimes, mainly when family members are the executors, the money is left with family members so that it is hidden from the DWP etc.

However probate and will's once filed become public documents which can be obtained for evidence.

The £2,000 limit is now £4,000, not sure if this has been widely publicised as yet, however should it be believed that it has been intentionally hidden then they could still prosecute for a lower amount.

cattermole

Surely you were signing off the accounts from your fathers estate?

So at that point what had your Mother's coerced will to do with anything as she hadn't yet inherited the estate from your father?

You also state he the "boyfriend" had power of Attorney when your Mother was alive, therefore if the Lasting Power of Attorney for Finance was registered and he was managing her affairs prior to her death you are quite within your rights to ask to see the accounts he would have had to keep.

I dont buy into the insurance email being anything of any substance and at that point your mother was alive so doesnt make sense what you are saying. Your Mother inherited from your father under the rules of intestate. If you have a copy if state email it would be evidence of their complicity.

I also don't see how they could take our a court order against you if you live outside the UK or how they could afford to do so.

epitome

tomtom256 wrote: »

Once probate has been granted on a will this is when a person legally own's the inheritance and that is the point it needs to be declared.

But during probate it is not the inheritors money, and they will continue to be entitled to benefit.

Mojisola

tekman wrote: »

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

When I went through the process of becoming Dad's POA, letters had to be sent to my siblings telling them that I was applying for it. Didn't that happen? If not, you should have challenged it. If an attorney doesn't follow the rules at the initial stage, it suggests they might not be the best person to be an attorney. (That doesn't help you but may be useful for someone else to know)

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.

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.

Any decent solicitor will have insisted on seeing your mother alone and talked through the will with her and kept notes of the meeting. If there were any suspicions that your mother was being coerced, then things should have been stopped.

sidefx

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.

^^^^ This!

Report them OP! They deserve everything they get!