Brother’s inheritance and benefits

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. A few years ago they were stopped and he had to go through re assessment, which he found massively stressful. 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

pmlindyloo

Since a solicitor is involved I am assuming that your late father had a will and this went through probate?  Please confirm.

If there was a will is it possible that the money was held 'in trust' with the solicitor being a trustee since your brother has a long term mental illness?  This would have been documented in the will if this helps.

I am wondering if your first step should be a telephone call to the solicitor to see if you can find out what has happened to the money.  

I do not understand why the money wasn't sent to your brother if the solicitor was handling the probate so it is possible that a conversation was held between your brother and the solicitor about this.

Can you speak to your brother about this?

In general terms this money would be considered to be capital and if it is over £16000 then his ESA would stop IF his ESA is income based.  If your brother is in the support group then it is possible that part of his ESA is contribution based (based on his NI contributions - did he work before receiving benefits?) which is not means tested so he would not lose all of his ESA.

Does he receive any other benefits?  DLA/PIP/Housing Benefit/Council Tax Reduction?

This is complicated because of the time period since your father died so rather than give any further information it would be helpful to know the answers to the above questions.

Robin9

As I understand it  - yes the benefits will stop. It's a mute point as to whether the money is actually your bother's or not just because it is held at the solicitors.

What other money does he have ?

There are justifiable expenses around the home which he can incur  -  bathrooms, kitchen equipment -   which can enable him to not exceed the limit.

Edit - have you POA for your brother ?

moneyfranc

To answer the questions above- our father did not set up a trust, if as a simple 50:50 split of his assets between brother and I.
Sadly my brother has never worked. 

A conversation may have been held between my brother and the solicitor, and it’s possible he hasn’t told me about it - he tends to withhold information if the topic is a difficult one. Overwhelmingly, he fears losing his benefits and I think he’d prefer to lose the inheritance money if it came down to it. 

I agree, a good place to start is probably for me to pick up the phone and speak to the solicitor. Just wondering if a trust can be set up to drip feed money into his account.
his home needs much doing to it but he is a hoarder and it is incredibly hard to get stuff done- tradesmen tend to run a mile. But maybe making modernisations to the home could be considered if this would be a legal way of releasing the inheritance.

Mojisola

moneyfranc said:

I agree, a good place to start is probably for me to pick up the phone and speak to the solicitor.

It's likely that the solicitor will not talk to you about your brother's inheritance unless your brother gives permission.

calcotti

pmlindyloo said: If your brother is in the support group then it is possible that part of his ESA is contribution based (based on his NI contributions - did he work before receiving benefits?) which is not means tested so he would not lose all of his ESA.

Would also have contribution based entitlement if transferred from Incapacity Benefit.

calcotti

moneyfranc said: Just wondering if a trust can be set up to drip feed money into his account.

Setting up a trust after the money has been inherited will not work in respect of benefit entitlement.

moneyfranc

Ok. I will aim to speak to solicitor with my brothers agreement. As mentioned, he’s never worked, Calcotti could he have contribution based entitlement if he was transferred to ESA from Incapacity Benefit, even if he has never worked? And does that mean he wouldn’t currently be means tested?

Robin9

@moneyfranc Just because he's never worked doesn't mean that he doesn't have "means"  - eg he has his inheritance, his benefits, his savings

Have you POA for your brother ?

moneyfranc

@Robin9 I don’t have POA.

KxMx

moneyfranc said:

Ok. I will aim to speak to solicitor with my brothers agreement. As mentioned, he’s never worked, Calcotti could he have contribution based entitlement if he was transferred to ESA from Incapacity Benefit, even if he has never worked? And does that mean he wouldn’t currently be means tested?

Yes this is possible if your brother was claiming IB under Youth Rules, he would have been moved to ESA CB.
Another route from Incapacity Benefit to ESA CB would be if at the time if transfer he was put into the Support Group.

Even if he gets an IR top up which would stop, the bulk of the ESA CB would continue.