How can we Protect my Sister's Inheritance

willieormandsheroes

You are right - and I can only pray it all works out for her - and maybe her hubby sees the light and start behaving better. And many thanks to all for the advice and guidance. Very much appreciated,

willieormandsheroes

Time has moved on since I last posted here on myself and two siblings being beneficiaries of my mother's estate, Putting aside all other concerns that I have expressed in my OPs - a simple question.

The Cert of Confirmation (it's a Scottish will) has now come through and is with my brother - who is the Executor. This means that as Executor he is in a position to noew distribute all savings that my mother had between all beneficiaries, We still have my mother's house - and sale of that may not happen for some time. But just simply on the savings. These will amount to about £20,000 each.

My sister and her husband re on a variety of benefits - some of which I am sure are means-tested - some of which e.g. PIP I understand are not. I understand that £20K is over the limit (£16k) for means-tested benefits and so the DWP MUST be informed

My question is, At PRECISELY what point must my sister declare her inheritance? Can she wait until the funds are actually in her bank account - or must she declare them now as the Executor has the CofC in his hands.

As my brother is Executor of the estate I can envisage a situation that the Executor could only hand over less the £16K to avoid any means-tested benefits being cut - or indeed simply withhold providing the funds to my sister. Both of these would appear to be deliberate deprivation of asserts (?) - and I guess both my sister and brother could get into trouble with the law.

Advice then is simple. If we say that the letter providing of CopC cam ethrough today MUST my sister declare today as date of receipt of the £20K

Mojisola

willieormandsheroes wrote: »

My question is, At PRECISELY what point must my sister declare her inheritance? Can she wait until the funds are actually in her bank account - or must she declare them now as the Executor has the CofC in his hands.

She doesn't actually have it until the money is in her account.

When it's cleared, she should tell the DWP.

securityguy

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/626754/dmgch29.pdf

Paragraph 29174.

But note the note, which may be crucial in this case.

Yorkshireman99

Mojisola wrote: »

She doesn't actually have it until the money is in her account.

When it's cleared, she should tell the DWP.

She should have declared it already. Money owing is counted as soon as it becomes due. Obviously there is a little wriggle room but as soon as she is aware of the legacy it affects her benefits.

Keep_pedalling

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

She should have declared it already. Money owing is counted as soon as it becomes due. Obviously there is a little wriggle room but as soon as she is aware of the legacy it affects her benefits.

That is correct, and her interest in the house should also be declared, so we are talking more than £20,000 here.

willieormandsheroes

Obviously there is a little wriggle room but as soon as she is aware of the legacy it affects her benefits.

My sister became aware of the legacy as soon as my mother passed from us over a year ago. She did not know how much it would be. The Executor (our brother) has received the Certificate of Confirmation a week ago, and the funds were yesterday put into his Executor Bank Account.

I have been telling her yesterday and today that the key date was yesterday - in that this was the first point that she would had access to the legacy from my mother's estate - even although funds were not actually in her own bank account.

Am I correct?

Yorkshireman99

willieormandsheroes wrote: »

Obviously there is a little wriggle room but as soon as she is aware of the legacy it affects her benefits.

My sister became aware of the legacy as soon as my mother passed from us over a year ago. She did not know how much it would be. The Executor (our brother) has received the Certificate of Confirmation a week ago, and the funds were yesterday put into his Executor Bank Account.

I have been telling her yesterday and today that the key date was yesterday - in that this was the first point that she would had access to the legacy from my mother's estate - even although funds were not actually in her own bank account.

Am I correct?

The DWP are unlikely to see it that way. AFAIK the relevant date is the DOD because that was when her entitlement began. However, she would need to tell the DWP the full facts.

IAmWales

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

The DWP are unlikely to see it that way. AFAIK the relevant date is the DOD because that was when her entitlement began. However, she would need to tell the DWP the full facts.

That's wrong. The funds are available to the beneficiary only when the estate is distributed, and that is when the DWP need to be notifed. There would be no logic to it being earlier as the beneficiary could not access the funds, and for various reasons their bequest may have never materialised. Added to which, some estates can take years to settle, you wouldn't remove someone's benefits when they have no prospect of receiving the funds for years.

Yorkshireman99

IAmWales wrote: »

That's wrong. The funds are available to the beneficiary only when the estate is distributed, and that is when the DWP need to be notifed. There would be no logic to it being earlier as the beneficiary could not access the funds, and for various reasons their bequest may have never materialised. Added to which, some estates can take years to settle, you wouldn't remove someone's benefits when they have no prospect of receiving the funds for years.

You are missing the point. The DWP deem that the claimant has the funds even though they may not have actual access to them. For example if a beneficiary delcines to accept a bequest the DWP will still deem them to have received it as far as means tested benefits are concerned. AFAIK the same applies in this case. The OP was warned about this possibility a long time ago, and it would have been prudent to check with the DWP though it is actually the claimants responsibility to do this. The OP needs to remember that failure to promptly notify the DWP is a serious matter and can at worst result in penalties or a fine. Claiming lack of knowledge is not an excuse.