can a deed of variation leave benefits unaffected

Paul_Judd

Hi ,
after spending hours online already and going down lots of rabbit holes I am not holding out much hope but MSE members, let see if you can surprise me.

I have been approached for advise by a lady (X) who is in rceipt of a number of Benefits including ESA,PIP, carers allowance and Housing. She is the carer of her disabled partner and between them they have 4 children.

the ladys nan has just died and the will says X will inherit a sum of money in excess of £16,000.

Can we make a Deed of Variation to the Will to establish a Trust in favour of the children such that the inheritance wont effect her benefits ?

any help would be greatly appreciated as X is getting really worried that this money might actually make there life worse in the long run

many thanks if you can help or point me in the right direction

Paul

unforeseen

I believe that it would still be considered as deprivation of assets

Cheeky_Monkey

Paul_Judd wrote: »

the ladys nan has just died and the will says X will inherit a sum of money in excess of £16,000.

Can we make a Deed of Variation to the Will to establish a Trust in favour of the children such that the inheritance wont effect her benefits ?

any help would be greatly appreciated as X is getting really worried that this money might actually make there life worse in the long run

many thanks if you can help or point me in the right direction

Paul

No you can't not without her being accused of deliberating depriving herself of the money in order to continue claiming benefits - which is exactly what she wants to do.

I also fail to see how being given over £16,000 could possibly make their life worse!

Ames

Cheeky_Monkey wrote: »

No you can't not without her being accused of deliberating depriving herself of the money in order to continue claiming benefits - which is exactly what she wants to do.

I also fail to see how being given over £16,000 could possibly make their life worse!

If they're on legacy benefits they won't be able to go back to them when the savings drop below 16k. Depending on what benefits they're on, and why (ie disability that means they'll never be able to work) they'll be considerably worse off on universal credit. Someone having over 16k for just one day could lose over £60 a week for the rest of their claim. This might not be the case for the person referred to in the OP, but it's quite possible.

OP, there's nothing they can do. Giving the money away or doing something to not receive it is deprivation of capital. They'll be treated as having the money anyway.

There are legitimate expenses and things they can buy which wouldn't be considered deprivation.

TELLIT01

There may be rare exceptions, and I'm sure we'll get people saying they know situations where somebody has inherited a vast sum and it hasn't affected their benefits, but in the vast majority of cases, any attempt by a person in receipt of Income Related benefits to divert an inheritance to others would be classed as deprivation of capital.

xylophone

https://www.barkerevanslaw.co.uk/2016/09/deed-of-variation-changing-a-will-after-death/

There are some situations where a variation of a will or intestacy would be unwise. Deed of Variation risks

♦ Means tested benefits – if a beneficiary is receiving or applying for means tested benefits and he or she re-directs their inheritance to someone else, this is likely to breach the disclosure rules and could make them ineligible for benefits or even liable to prosecution, in some cases.

♦ Local Authority funded care – a person receiving local authority funded care or who is likely to be applying for LA funded care in the foreseeable future, shouldn’t re-direct an inheritance away from him or herself. Doing so risks being accused of deliberate deprivation of a valuable asset with the intention being eligible for public funded care.

The deed of variation might be set aside by the courts or the person who receives the re-directed inheritance may have to pay the care fees instead.

teddysmum

There is a rule about deprivation of assets and rightly so.


In countries with no or low benefits, people would be glad to live on inherited wealth, so why, in a country with generous benefits, should the same not be true?


People who work do not give away their wages so that they can claim benefits, because those wages are meant to be their means of support,with benefits if they fall on hard times.


People on benefits, who inherit a large sum, are no longer in need so should use that money to support themselves until they once again are in need or find employment, but some seem to think that they are losing something they deserve.


They actually are losing; some of the wages that other people have earned, but they don't deserve them, as they are no longer in need... or is it ok to keep an inheritance and be paid benefits made up of contributions that workers have no choice about making ?