Trust fund advice/info for inheritance

Sarah-Louise_2

Hello everyone, I hope you're all keeping well in these tough times.

My mother passed away on the 1st of October. 
A long and complicated story short: 
Her estate will be being split 3 ways to my estranged father (they were still married although separated 25+ years and he is still named on the deeds of the house), my brother and myself to the rough/estimated value of £40,000 each, dependent on what her house sells for.
I am disabled and on means-tested benefits (income-related ESA, housing benefit and council tax benefit) and PIP (which I believe isn't means-tested?) and have been told to research trust funds so my benefits stay intact and I can keep the money to make purchases that I will otherwise never be able to afford (home improvements and adjustments for my worsening mobility amongst them, also clearing my debts)

I have been unable to really find out anything about them and how they work so I was hoping I could get some advice here. My brother and his wife would be the trustees.
What is the process if I wanted to buy something, how long would that take to get the funds? If it costs money to set up is it possible for that to be paid from the inheritance and not upfront? Taxes?
Any information and advice would be wonderful as it's quite a scary thing for me. I want to use this money wisely but I don't want to make the decision of putting my inheritance into a trust fund until I understand more about them

Thank you so much in advance for any help and advice!

Savvy_Sue

to be honest, I am not sure what you can do at this stage to protect your means-tested benefits: your mother might have been able to set up a trust for you in her will, but anything you do at this stage will look like 'deliberate deprivation of assets'. 

However, there are some things you are allowed to do with your inheritance before it begins to affect your benefits, including clearing your debts, and future proofing your home. 

And although you might still be left with 'too much' to continue claiming means-tested benefits, once your savings drop below a certain level you'll be able to claim again. 

I think that one of the organisations well thought of for their advice in this area is MenCap (even if their other services are not relevant to your disability, the principles remain the same). https://www.mencap.org.uk/search?search=trusts 

I think you can ask someone to call you from their Trusts department. 

Brynsam

Sarah-Louise_2 said:

Hello everyone, I hope you're all keeping well in these tough times.

My mother passed away on the 1st of October. 
A long and complicated story short: 
Her estate will be being split 3 ways to my estranged father (they were still married although separated 25+ years and he is still named on the deeds of the house), my brother and myself to the rough/estimated value of £40,000 each, dependent on what her house sells for.
I am disabled and on means-tested benefits (income-related ESA, housing benefit and council tax benefit) and PIP (which I believe isn't means-tested?) and have been told to research trust funds so my benefits stay intact and I can keep the money to make purchases that I will otherwise never be able to afford (home improvements and adjustments for my worsening mobility amongst them, also clearing my debts)

I have been unable to really find out anything about them and how they work so I was hoping I could get some advice here. My brother and his wife would be the trustees.
What is the process if I wanted to buy something, how long would that take to get the funds? If it costs money to set up is it possible for that to be paid from the inheritance and not upfront? Taxes?
Any information and advice would be wonderful as it's quite a scary thing for me. I want to use this money wisely but I don't want to make the decision of putting my inheritance into a trust fund until I understand more about them

Thank you so much in advance for any help and advice!

Before going any further, you say your estranged father is 'named on the deeds'. How was the property held: as joint tenants or tenants in common? If the former, he now owns the whole of the house, regardless of what your mother's will says. If the latter he may well own half of it. Start by checking: https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership

Who has told you to 'research trust funds'? Perhaps ask them exactly what they mean and how they envisage this might help you. It's hard to see what they have in mind, given the plethora of regulations in place to stop just this sort of thing.

For expert advice on benefits, and whether there is any way you could legitimately use your inheritance to improve your life while minimising the impact on our benefits, try https://www.turn2us.org.uk

Sarah-Louise_2

Brynsam said:

Sarah-Louise_2 said:

Hello everyone, I hope you're all keeping well in these tough times.

My mother passed away on the 1st of October. 
A long and complicated story short: 
Her estate will be being split 3 ways to my estranged father (they were still married although separated 25+ years and he is still named on the deeds of the house), my brother and myself to the rough/estimated value of £40,000 each, dependent on what her house sells for.
I am disabled and on means-tested benefits (income-related ESA, housing benefit and council tax benefit) and PIP (which I believe isn't means-tested?) and have been told to research trust funds so my benefits stay intact and I can keep the money to make purchases that I will otherwise never be able to afford (home improvements and adjustments for my worsening mobility amongst them, also clearing my debts)

I have been unable to really find out anything about them and how they work so I was hoping I could get some advice here. My brother and his wife would be the trustees.
What is the process if I wanted to buy something, how long would that take to get the funds? If it costs money to set up is it possible for that to be paid from the inheritance and not upfront? Taxes?
Any information and advice would be wonderful as it's quite a scary thing for me. I want to use this money wisely but I don't want to make the decision of putting my inheritance into a trust fund until I understand more about them

Thank you so much in advance for any help and advice!

Before going any further, you say your estranged father is 'named on the deeds'. How was the property held: as joint tenants or tenants in common? If the former, he now owns the whole of the house, regardless of what your mother's will says. If the latter he may well own half of it. Start by checking: https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership

Who has told you to 'research trust funds'? Perhaps ask them exactly what they mean and how they envisage this might help you. It's hard to see what they have in mind, given the plethora of regulations in place to stop just this sort of thing.

For expert advice on benefits, and whether there is any way you could legitimately use your inheritance to improve your life while minimising the impact on our benefits, try https://www.turn2us.org.uk

Apologies, I should have clarified a little better in my post!
My mother never made a will. 
My father has always worked abroad (Saudi Arabia).We have had no contact with him for those 25+ years. The solicitor my brother is working with instructed genealogists and he was found in the UK and contacted. 
My father made the offer of splitting the estate 3 ways, himself, my brother and me.
It was the solicitor that mentioned the trust fund, but it's not his speciality and my brother is fast running out of funds to pay his fees so their phone conversations are as short and precise as possible. 

RAS

Has anyone actually downloaded the deeds? It costs £3 so your brother can do it himself. That might be a sensible thing.

If the inheritance legally goes to your father as sole surviving tenant, then it may be best if your father clears your debts and pays directly for the adjustments. I'd definitely advise talking to a benefits advisor from a charity that deals with your disability.

getmore4less

OK that makes things a lot easier.

No will, married, spouse still alive, then the primary beneficiary is your father.
depending on amount in the estate you may be getting some but it looks from what you said £40k each that is probably not the case and it all goes to spouse so in effect your dad is gifting you the money.

As your father is the main beneficiary  he can DOV your share into trust that protect those assets from means tested benefits and  your share qualifies(through PIP) for "trusts for vulnerable beneficiaries" status that has some extra benefits over regular discretionary type trusts 

by doing this they are never your assets for means testing and no deprivation issues either.

to get you started(read multiple sources)
https://www.google.com/search?q=disabled+trust+or+discretionary+trust

and 
https://www.gov.uk/trusts-taxes/trusts-for-vulnerable-people

I have not looked through this area before but I suspects with quite a bit of reading it will become pretty clear what needs doing and with family as trustees what they can do to help you with the assets.
there will be organizations that can help as well.


Early days, but you do have 2 years to do a DOV(that may not be needed if dad can gift to a trust and does not need the UK tax benefits of a DOV)

getmore4less

Another option if agreeable all round as this is in effect going to be gift from dad  and if you have specific targets for the funds and if that will use up a lot of the £40k is dad just gifts you when needed, and if that is not practical maybe he could gift it all to your brother and they gift onto you as needed.

This is not without potential issues over the trust option that ringfences the money