Sorting out a widow's affairs

confusED

Hello,

My FIL died a few weeks ago and as the one married to the only daughter I have had to step in to help sort out the affairs whilst my wife and MIL basically grieve. As is probably usual for 80yr olds all the financial affairs were dealt with by the now deceased.

So as I dig into the bank accounts I reveal that what he told the Housing was not his full finances. They have more savings than you are supposed to and they probably shouldn't be getting Housing benefit. This equates to about £1250pm (as this is a London Flat rent and is nearly £2k).

Her role in all this seems to be to have been allowed to keep all her pension for shopping whilst he paid the bills and topped up the rent. She thinks life will carry on as before but in reality she may be faced with £1k to live on with bills of over £2k! The savings aren't large and will probably only last her a year or two before they are gone. I haven't told her yet.

Now I could just turn a blind eye to this - it is their/her business - but in the last few months whilst he was ill he let money come into the account that he was being paid into by the housing. Therefore the account that previously was declared and fell below the savings limit is now above. So I don't see how she could carry on with the pretense even if she wanted to.

So I am stuck with this bombshell which I will have to explode at some time. This is causing me huge stress. My marriage is being stretched to breaking point as I can sense that my wife would give her mum all her (our) savings to let her continue in this lifestyle to make her remaining years happy. We don't have much and are out of work (not even claiming because we are above the savings limit and I won't "lie").

So my question really is - if someone is above the savings threshold but then burns through it in say a year can they then claim benefits once they are gone? Or when they return to below the savings threshold?

It's all such a mess.

bouicca21

Is it still above the limit when you deduct the cost of the funeral?

confusED

Yep,

Like 10k above.

Keep_pedalling

This is not as bad as it may seem and please don't go worrying you MIL at the moment.

The worst that could happen is that she will be asked to pay back 10 months housing benefit which would bring her back to the level of savings where it would be payable again. Alternatively a new assessment may leave her without HB until her savings have reduced to to the qualifying level.

Did your FIL get pension credit, or does your MIL get it now?

TBagpuss

As others have said, she will need to pay back the overpayments . If that then brings down the savings to within the limitshe will then be able to reapply, if it doesn't then she will ned to use the savigns to pay rent until they do get to below the limit.

You do have to be a little careful not to 'burn through them', as this could be seen as depivation of assets - but if she spends the savigns at a reasonable rate to covernormal living costs then once she gets below the savings cap she will be able to re-apply for any benefits.

If she is not used to dealing with finances then it may be that it would be sensible for her to think about granting you and her daughtera Power of Attorney so you are able to help her manage her money if she wants youto (its a good idea anyway, as it makes it very much less complex if she becomes incapacitated in future)

getmore4less

It looks like the savings are there because the money coming in has not been spent so it won't be missed when it is given back.

I would try to go through and work out the history so you have an idea of where this would go, will need some research/help with benefits and how they work. then when you approch the authorities you are armed with the info to understand their proposals.

if after any repayment there is still too much, £2kpm rent will soon deplete it.

confusED

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

This is not as bad as it may seem and please don't go worrying you MIL at the moment.

The worst that could happen is that she will be asked to pay back 10 months housing benefit which would bring her back to the level of savings where it would be payable again. Alternatively a new assessment may leave her without HB until her savings have reduced to to the qualifying level.

Did your FIL get pension credit, or does your MIL get it now?

Why 10 months please?
They have been overclaiming for 9yrs!

Keep_pedalling

Because within 10 months (more like 8 actually) paying all the rent their savings would be reduced to the level where they could claim again.

It is more than likely that when he started claiming they were below the limit and the extra £10k has built up over the nine years they have been claiming it, so don't think too badly of your FIL.

Yorkshireman99

confusED wrote: »

Why 10 months please?
They have been overclaiming for 9yrs!

You need to be very careful that you don't get get accused of conspiracy to defraud. The council could claim the arrears from the estate. if it is not a joint tenancy then she will escape other consequences but she needs to declare it ASAP. I assume the council may expect her to move to more modest accommodation.

jackyann

I really wouldn't, at the moment, worry your wife & MiL.
Calmly keep working through everything, and say as little as possible.
If one of them starts talking about spending a large sum, say that you are unsure how much there will be, and please to wait.
If either of them asks specifically say something similar: sorting out the HB payments, what is due etc. very complicated & time-consuming.

Talk to CAB or some similar organisation if need be (Cruse can be particularly helpful in dealing wih the bereaved and this situation is familiar to them). Whilst you do need to be careful about being complicit in fraud, at the moment you are just trying to make sense of a mass of financial paperwork, so don't get too concerned.

Once you are completely clear, then you can tell them in the way you think best - maybe your wife first.

What I would hope (and from experience) is that when the first flush of grieving is over, there is brain space for practical matters - so they may be much better at taking it on board in a few weeks - I do hope so.

getmore4less

confusED wrote: »

Why 10 months please?
They have been overclaiming for 9yrs!

But how much of that time were they over and if they were not claiming then they would have been using savings.

proper calculations will need to be done.

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I had it on good authority from someone that deals with benefits for discables family members that they can only go back 6 years. Problem is that person died last year so I can't followup.


I think the issue is that they can only go to court to recover debts over 6years old but can take the money from current benefits.

so they can only go back 6 years on the estate but if the benefits were a joint cleaim that does not help if they survivor still needs benefits.