inheriting mother's estate and housing benefit

Soapy36

Hi, sadly I lost my mother recently, I am the only child and will inherit everything, the property will need to be put up for sale as soon as Probate is received and I plan to use the money from the sale to buy a property in a cheaper more affordable part of the country. Several years ago my mum took out some equity against the property, so approximately £50,000 will need to be paid to the equity release scheme. I am currently on universal credit and receive the housing element, obviously once mum's property is sold I will be giving up my rented accommodation and purchase my new property as I don't want to be reliant on benefits anymore, nor do I wish to rent a property. My worry is what happens during the time I actually inherit the property before the property is sold and the equity is paid to the equity release company? am I still within my rights to claim my UC? I don't want to break any rules, but until the funds from mum's property being sold actually go into my bank I'm still reliant on UC, can anyone give me some advice please? Thank you

Robin9

It will take many months to sort your mother's estate and only when all is settled will your UC situation change. Carry on with your claims in the meantime.

Soapy36

Thank you, so until the money is actually paid into my bank I am not claiming illegally?

FreeBear

Soapy36 wrote: »

Thank you, so until the money is actually paid into my bank I am not claiming illegally?

Until all the debts of the estate have been paid (funeral bill, legal fees, equity release, etc), you don't know how much you will receive. So there is nothing you can do wrt benefits until the money is in your bank account.

If it makes you feel any better, write a letter to the DWP stating that you will be receiving an inheritance at some point in the next two years or so, but do not know how much it will be.

Depending on who the executors are, and if there are any legal challenges (and how long it takes to sell the property), it could be a year at the earliest before you get anything. Worst case, it might be ten years if there are any disputes over the will.

Yorkshireman99

Soapy36 wrote: »

Hi, sadly I lost my mother recently, I am the only child and will inherit everything, the property will need to be put up for sale as soon as Probate is received and I plan to use the money from the sale to buy a property in a cheaper more affordable part of the country. Several years ago my mum took out some equity against the property, so approximately £50,000 will need to be paid to the equity release scheme. I am currently on universal credit and receive the housing element, obviously once mum's property is sold I will be giving up my rented accommodation and purchase my new property as I don't want to be reliant on benefits anymore, nor do I wish to rent a property. My worry is what happens during the time I actually inherit the property before the property is sold and the equity is paid to the equity release company? am I still within my rights to claim my UC? I don't want to break any rules, but until the funds from mum's property being sold actually go into my bank I'm still reliant on UC, can anyone give me some advice please? Thank you

You need to get some proper advice as the rules are complex. I suggest your ignore the suggestion that has been made and visit the CAB who will be able to tell you the facts. You could end up with a big bill and fines if don.t deal with it correctly.

Yorkshireman99

FreeBear wrote: »

Until all the debts of the estate have been paid (funeral bill, legal fees, equity release, etc), you don't know how much you will receive. So there is nothing you can do wrt benefits until the money is in your bank account.

If it makes you feel any better, write a letter to the DWP stating that you will be receiving an inheritance at some point in the next two years or so, but do not know how much it will be.

Depending on who the executors are, and if there are any legal challenges (and how long it takes to sell the property), it could be a year at the earliest before you get anything. Worst case, it might be ten years if there are any disputes over the will.

Not good advice as the DWP are likely to stop all means tested benefits at once. I repeat the OP need to contact the CAB or similar to get accurate advice.

Margot123

As I understand it, the DWP will allow you up to 6 months (longer if you need special housing due to age/disability) to purchase a property from an inheritance before they cease means-tested benefits.

HOWEVER seek advice from Shelter or CAB before informing anyone of your circumstances.

Yorkshireman99

Margot123 wrote: »

As I understand it, the DWP will allow you up to 6 months (longer if you need special housing due to age/disability) to purchase a property from an inheritance before they cease means-tested benefits.

HOWEVER seek advice from Shelter or CAB before informing anyone of your circumstances.

Very sound advice as always from M123. The DWP can be very unpredictable as I found out personally last month. Fortunately for me having a £350 payment delayed for a week because of an £85.60 overpayment that I had already declared and offered immediate repayment for was not a problem for me but for someone on the breadline would have been. I am awaiting my MP.s response. Their view was that protecting the public purse took priority over destitution. Shame on them. What was particularly galling was that they would not have found out about the overpayment if I had not told them. Furthermore they specifically told me payment would not be delayed and I only found out when I checked my bank account. They claimed they had no mechanism for deducting the overpayment but could only stop payments altogether.

AnotherJoe

FreeBear wrote: »

Until all the debts of the estate have been paid (funeral bill, legal fees, equity release, etc), you don't know how much you will receive. So there is nothing you can do wrt benefits until the money is in your bank account.

If it makes you feel any better, write a letter to the DWP stating that you will be receiving an inheritance at some point in the next two years or so, but do not know how much it will be.

Depending on who the executors are, and if there are any legal challenges (and how long it takes to sell the property), it could be a year at the earliest before you get anything. Worst case, it might be ten years if there are any disputes over the will.

Absolutely do not do that !

That's an utterly ridiculous suggestion. Just takes one bozo to misread it and stop your benefits and then good luck trying to reinstate. And if they don't stop,what's it done ? Nothing at all. DWP won't do anything nor will they make a note in their diary to call you in x months time. Let sleeping dogs lie.

Until the probate is done and the money lands in your account do nothing except get prepared for what it will mean.

Yorkshireman99

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Absolutely do not do that !

That's an utterly ridiculous suggestion. Just takes one bozo to misread it and stop your benefits and then good luck trying to reinstate. And if they don't stop,what's it done ? Nothing at all. DWP won't do anything nor will they make a note in their diary to call you in x months time. Let sleeping dogs lie.

Until the probate is done and the money lands in your account do nothing except get prepared for what it will mean.

Sound advice. What will happen though is that some overpayment of benefit will occur and will have to be repaid,

AnotherJoe

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Sound advice. What will happen though is that some overpayment of benefit will occur and will have to be repaid,

Agreed, but far better to be in the position of having to give money back to DWP* than trying to extract it from them




* when you are in a position to afford it.