Housing benefit and inheritence - not enought to live planning future and laws law

ninja7

I'm claiming housing benefit and my mums died and left me the money which is slightly more than the amount than is allowed to continue claiming housing benefit.

I won't have enough to live on for my remaining years.

I thought about investing in land or other ideas. Is there a way I can legally move/keep the inheritence and still get my benefits,

otherwise i'm going to be so poor I won't be able to live and to elderly...

Whats the laws what options do I have?

ninja7

Hi I wrote this for my father who is a but mentally challenged he really needs help, hes so scared and worried its - worrying me - I think hes gonna die of worry.

He basically thinks he cannot do anything with the money because its illegal and that it won't be enough to live off and then hes homeless.

I told him I'd let him stay here but he just went merrrh lol


I believe he can give the money to us kids to invest and/or buy a cheap bit of land to invest and still claim his benefits. Whats the best route. Whats the legal situation on this?

redbuzzard

Benefits are for people who don't have money. If he's got money he doesn't need the benefits.Why should the taxpayer pay his rent when he has money in the bank?

If he pays his own rent for a bit, presumably his savings will be depleted to the point where he can claim housing benefit again when he needs it.

Maybe it doesn't work like that - I'm no benefits expert.

CKhalvashi

What figures are we talking?

If it's genuinely small amounts (actually, less than £16k, which is rather a lot) then he will lose some, but not all of his benefit. Less than this, he'll lose nothing. In some circumstances, the limit is (I believe) £23k for savings.

We need far more info before we can advise.

atush

This is the Pensions forum.

There is a forum for Benefits which would probably bring you more people who could help?

ninja7

Thank you for the kind replies and NO MY FATHER ISN'T TRYING TO ROB THE TAX PAYER. He worked and paid tax and towards his OWN pension his ENTIRE life so don't talk to me about thievery. Thats the governments job. Get off your high horse and don't reply we don't need more trouble. Thats absurd.


He suffers mental issues although is not on any benefits for these. He doesn't understand - hed worried to death. All people are telling him different things.

I think hes getting about £16,000 inheritance from his mothers death, maybe £20,000 I don't know and nor does he yet (theres some sibling disputes and his mental issues ae making it hard for me to understand).

He is getting help from housing benefit and some of his pension he paid into as a life long worker (I think).

Hes basically now believes hes losing all his benefits (thats what his sister told him and he husband) and he has to live off whatever he gets (the 16k) till he dies or runs out of money and goes into homeless shelter.

I have no idea how it works but everyones telling him different stuff hes nearly dead just from the worry alone.

Personally I believe he should buy an asset cheap bit of land and continue to get his benefit if this is legal?
Or give it to his children to invest for him to help him live.

Sorry but that really angered me what that person said about US robbing tax payer. 70% of tax funds the military - invading Iraq and inventing new missiles. Go read a book. Absolute ignorance to say my father is robbing the tax payer. Rediculous. :mad:

atush

Well did you read the other replies? Like talking about this in the benefits forum?

No, he will not have to live on his cash until he is homeless. He will have reduced benefits until he has used enough of the savings to fall below the savings threshold.

Go elsewhere to find out how this all works instead of getting wound up here.

greenglide

Hes basically now believes hes losing all his benefits (thats what his sister told him and he husband) and he has to live off whatever he gets (the 16k) till he dies or runs out of money and goes into homeless shelter.

So what you really need to do is to stop him listening to the rubbish put about by this sister etc and, by implication, by you.

If he has over the savings for the benefits he will be expected to live off them until his savings fall to below the limit. While this will impact housing benefit it would not reduce his pension but could reduce Pension Credit if he gets it but only after an Assessed Income Period for pension credit has ended.

Clearly you don't know much about this either. Could you not go to citizens advice - they may calm both of you down.

Sorry but that really angered me what that person said about US robbing tax payer. 70% of tax funds the military - invading Iraq and inventing new missiles. Go read a book. Absolute ignorance to say my father is robbing the tax payer. Rediculous

70% of tax spend on military for "inventing new missiles"? Really, seriously?

Let me see -

State Benefits - £159bn of which State Pensions is £74bn and Housing Benefit is £16bn

Ministry of Defence £37bn

Out of a total of £694bn as at 2011 - 2012.

And yes, what you are proposing is an attempt to get benefits to which he may not be entitled. Giving money to children isnt, generally, allowed. Buying an asset (why land?) doesnt help as this counts as savings.

xylophone

See http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Factsheets/FS17_Housing_Benefit_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true

See page 17
Your father cannot give away money to enable him to keep or increase a benefit.

This is "deprivation of capital".

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/benefits_e/benefits_older_people_ew/benefits_for_older_people.htm

If your father needs help, he can make an appointment with a Benefits Adviser at CAB - you could accompany him.

redbuzzard

I apologise for being tactless, although I never accused you of robbing the taxpayer.

Your father obviously needs to be reassured.

But why do you think it is reasonable to keep benefits that are not needed? I have 44 years NI contributions and think I have paid a lot of tax, but that does not entitle me to benefits and nor should it if I don't need them. Or do you think that once on benefits they should never be taken away? You wouldn't be the only one - I'm pretty sure I've seen questions to the effect of "I've won the lottery - how can I avoid losing my benefits?"

Your father should end up better off - even if his benefits are reduced, at the point where he has depleted his savings to the point that his benefits are fully restored, he will still have more money than he has now, won't he?

Why WOULD the taxpayer pay rent or subsistence for your father (or me for that matter) when he (and I) can pay it? Whether the government has wasted money on wars is irrelevant.

kidmugsy

Unnecessary wars should be dealt with by hanging Mr Blair: they have no bearing on entitlement to benefits.

Update: to be even-handed, a few years jail for Mr Cameron might be fitting too.