Brother on benefits not claiming his inheritance money

moneyfranc

My brother sadly has long term mental illness and is in receipt of ESA. Back in 2018 our father passed away leaving us his estate 50:50. This included about £16000 for my brother. He has never collected the money which I assume is still  in the solicitor’s  coffers. I’ve discussed the situation with him and he has no intention of collecting the money as he’s terrified his benefits will stop. I think he is also worried he’d be in trouble with the law eg a friend of his inherited some land, continued receiving benefits, and got a court summons. Is there any way of ensuring he can get the money without his benefits stopping? It just doesn’t sit right with me that the solicitor continues to hold the money and I am worried there’ll be a time limit after which they’ll argue they can keep the money. I don’t have power of attorney for my brother. Thanks for any advice. 

Mojisola

It will eventually come to the DWP's notice that he is claiming benefits when he has had an inheritance.  Just because he hasn't moved the money from the solicitor's account into his own account doesn't change his ownership of it.

He will have to pay back what he's received from the time the estate was settled and could be open to an allegation of fraud.

wannabe_a_saver

I would suggest posting on the benefits board for more expert advice, however my understanding is that his not claiming the inheritance doesn't actually make any difference in the eyes of the law/DWP and they would assess his finances as if he had it regardless. 

If he claims PIP, that isn't affected by income, and his other benefits would be reduced based on the lump sum until it had got down to (I think) £6000 and then he can start to claim fully again.  He won't be cut off, he will just have to use some of the inheritance money to support himself for a while.

moneyfranc

Thanks guys for these prompt responses. I will look into which benefits exactly he’s getting now, I know it was ESA back in 2015 when I had to send a letter to the DWP on his behalf, but it might be PIP now. Interesting that the DWP would deem him to have the money even if he hasn’t collected it I will move the question to the benefits board. 

elsien

He may be claiming PIP and ESA so that’s something to check. You also need to take into account other means tested benefits such as housing benefit and council tax benefit. 

He needs to sort it; the longer he leaves it the more strife he could end up in because it could be perceived as benefit fraud, even if that wasn’t his intention.  Contacting the DWP/council with an update and arranging to repay us going to be much better for him than an investigation further down the line. Does he have a CPN or care co-ordinator who could support at all? 

 The other thing he can consider is using some of the money to buy/replace things that he needs. 

Going on a wild spending spree and blowing the lot just to get it down would obviously be considered deprivation of assets, but if he needs new furniture or white goods that would generally be fine, for example. 

moneyfranc

Thank you elsien. I think I need a full discussion with him about it, which is never easy as he tends to withhold info if he feels it’s a subject he can’t cope with. He has a history of being unwise with money eg gambling, and is vulnerable to being financially exploited. It’s all quite tricky but I feel I need to grasp the nettle. I wonder if I could help set up a trust which could drip feed money into his account ?

elsien

You might find that if he has been claiming the various means tested benefits for 3 years then there not going to be a huge amount left anyway. 

I would suggest getting all the information you can from him, and getting advice on the best way to inform people to minimise the impact. Benefits board will have a better idea about this. 

I was also wondering if he’s still involved with any services who could evidence the impact of his mental health if necessary? 

moneyfranc

Thanks elsien. He used to have a social worker and a CPN, indeed he may still have. I have posted on the benefits board.

elsien

Also to put on your radar that it’s possible he’s claimed an exemption from council tax if his MH issues are severe and longstanding, so that’s something else to ask about because if he has it’s one less means tested benefit to worry about. 

justworriedabit

Mojisola said:

It will eventually come to the DWP's notice that he is claiming benefits when he has had an inheritance.  Just because he hasn't moved the money from the solicitor's account into his own account doesn't change his ownership of it.

He will have to pay back what he's received from the time the estate was settled and could be open to an allegation of fraud.

Exactly what I would have sated.  Re fraud allegation a good chance that will happen.

justworriedabit

moneyfranc said:

My brother sadly has long term mental illness and is in receipt of ESA. Back in 2018 our father passed away leaving us his estate 50:50. This included about £16000 for my brother. He has never collected the money which I assume is still  in the solicitor’s  coffers. I’ve discussed the situation with him and he has no intention of collecting the money as he’s terrified his benefits will stop. I think he is also worried he’d be in trouble with the law eg a friend of his inherited some land, continued receiving benefits, and got a court summons. Is there any way of ensuring he can get the money without his benefits stopping? It just doesn’t sit right with me that the solicitor continues to hold the money and I am worried there’ll be a time limit after which they’ll argue they can keep the money. I don’t have power of attorney for my brother. Thanks for any advice. 

Thankfully me and my family have never been on benefits but google it re the amount they stop benefits at, i think it is that 16k but check and he would easily need to spend some of it so he will be under 16k.
The bit I've highlighted, if I was on the benefits panel, to me it looks as though he knows what he is doing, no ifs and no butts.