Benefits, Inheritance and Gifting Money

adaesther

Dear All,
Any help would be much appreciated in regard to my query.
My mother is due to inherit approx. £60K from my grandmothers estate.
My parents claim benefits at present and are aware that this will cease when the inheritance is received and have no problem with that.
The issue lies in that Mom would like to give me and my brother some monies from the estate. £10K to myself and £14K to my brother (we are both working and paying taxes).
She has been to the CAB this morning to query whether this is okay to do (we have spoken to the solicitor who said he will draw a letter up for Mom to show the Benefits people where £24K has gone).
However CAB have said that when Mom is back to a level where she can claim benefits again (which I believe is £10K) then the monies that she has given to us WOULD be taken into account and would delay her going back on benefits until the Benefits Office deemed a time had passed that she would have spent the £24k given in her own time.
My mother rang me this morning after the visit to CAB and she is heartbroken that she cannot give her children what she wants. There is no deceit involved or trying to 'work the system' - we are just looking for an honest way to do this and clarification as to whether the Benefits Office could do this to her when she comes to claim benefits again if we have a solicitors letter?
If she takes the solicitors letter showing the gifting of the monies to the Benefits Office when she comes off benefits and they are okay with it can they retract their decision at a later date?
If it means my brother and I refuse the monies in order to enable her to go back on benefits easily we will do so.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

sammyjammy

A solicitors letter telling DWP where the money has gone will make no difference, if your mother gives away £24k of this money and then reclaims benefits it may be considered she still has it when doing any calculations.

It makes no difference whether your mother is upset, genuine or otherwise. She cannot give away £24k and expect the tax payer to fund her expenses instead.

I'm sorry to sound harsh but its true.

kingfisherblue

I think this will come under deprivation of capital. People cannot give away money, even to their children, in order to continue claiming benefits, and I believe that the DWP will treat cases such as this as though the claimant still has the money.


Also, should your mum decide to make any large purchases, she should keep receipts. She can, of course, replace carpets, furniture or a car if necessary, but should have receipts for this to show reasonable spending. Likewise, she can book holidays for herself but these should be reasonably priced and not luxury breaks.

pmlindyloo

Which benefits are your parents claiming?

Is Pension Credit one of them?

adaesther

Thanks all. I totally understand about tax payer funding benefits ( I am one of them).
My mother will be left with £36K - she is coming off benefits so she will not be continuing to claim them - will be paying full rent and council tax and does not have a problem with this. She is estimating (her and my father) living on £1K per month hence being off benefits for three years (they are not going on a round the world cruise or buying a super car).
There are several benefits they could claim and DO NOT as they feel they are given too much to live on now!
pmlindyloo - My father receives DLA (which will continue) and pension credit.

Mojisola

adaesther wrote: »

My father receives DLA (which will continue) and pension credit.

If he is in an Assessed Income Period, the inheritance may not affect their PC.

pmlindyloo

adaesther wrote: »

Thanks all. I totally understand about tax payer funding benefits ( I am one of them).
My mother will be left with £36K - she is coming off benefits so she will not be continuing to claim them - will be paying full rent and council tax and does not have a problem with this. She is estimating (her and my father) living on £1K per month hence being off benefits for three years (they are not going on a round the world cruise or buying a super car).
There are several benefits they could claim and DO NOT as they feel they are given too much to live on now!
pmlindyloo - My father receives DLA (which will continue) and pension credit.

Is your mum on your dad's pension credit claim?

There may be an assessed income period with the Pension Credit (this would be on the Pension Credit award letter) during which time any change in capital does not need to be reported.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284304/foi-636-2014.pdf

However, if there is mention of this in the Pension Credit award letter then you would need to check with the Pension Services to make sure that not informing of a change in capital during the AIP applies to the claim.

adaesther

Thanks to the last two posters. Unfortunately have just double checked with my mom as to what benefits and they only claim housing benefit (my mistake thought they had pension credit) but thank you for the helpful responses.

RAS

OP

Giving you money would mean that your mother has deprived herself of capital and when she tries to reclaim HB and CTB, she will probably be assumed still be in possession of that money for a period of time decided by the decision maker.

It give you an idea, one instance on here related to the fact that mum had taken a friend or relative on a cruise. Not mega-bucks; about £1200pp if I recall rightly. She had also bought things for relatives. The decision maker decided that whilst she was OK to go on the holiday, by paying for the relative and paying for the gifts she had deprived herself of capital.

In consequence mum had no benefit income and no inheritance money left to support herself.

mad_spaniel

what counts is the reason behind the gift. If the primary reason is to stay on benefit or get more benefit then it's deprivation and still counts as available. If a relative is facing bankruptcy, home being repossessed etc then the primary reason of giving away money might not be deprivation as it could potentially be argued the primary reason for the gift would be to safeguard a home for offspring/ grandchildren- not deprivation to stay on benefits.

adaesther

mad_spaniel - thank you. The reason behind the gift is mom and dad have never had this kind of money and mom just wants me and brother to have it as a 'gift' from them. My brother and I are not in dire need of the monies for any form of deprivation.
My mom and dad will be coming off benefits when in receipt of this inheritance and not claiming anything at all which they are okay with.
Its the gifting now and if in three to four years time (or when the inheritance has run out) will it affect them reclaiming housing benefit by gifting this money to us now?