Inheritance

HillStreetBlues

Campbell20 said:

Hi again. I’ve been advised by my auntie that my her and my mum gifted the land owned by my grandparents to their children in 2012. Apparently my mum has paperwork showing this. This I believe was my grandparent’s wish. The land has recently been bought by developers and the money has been distributed to the 11 people in the family, 3 daughters of my grandparents and 8 grandchildren. As this land was gifted to me in 2012 and only recently been sold do I have to declare this to universal credit? My mum is still alive so it’s not part of a will. 

Who sold the land? How old are you?

peteuk

Campbell20 said:

Hi again. I’ve been advised by my auntie that my her and my mum gifted the land owned by my grandparents to their children in 2012. Apparently my mum has paperwork showing this. This I believe was my grandparent’s wish. The land has recently been bought by developers and the money has been distributed to the 11 people in the family, 3 daughters of my grandparents and 8 grandchildren. As this land was gifted to me in 2012 and only recently been sold do I have to declare this to universal credit? My mum is still alive so it’s not part of a will. 

Inheritance tax -  the gift of land was given in 2012 by your grandparents to her three children.  When did your grand parents pass away?  (I dont want to assume the land was passed to them in a will). If my assumption is correct then depending  on the value of the land at the time, inheritance tax would have been due in 2012.  

If more than 7 yrs has passed between the gifting of the land and your grand parents passing eg they passed in 2019 then no Inheritance tax is payable.  Anything in between is tapered.

peteuk

Campbell20 said:

The amount will be around £50,000. I’m currently not working due to being in remission from cancer and I’m claiming Universal Credit. It’s likely that I’m never going to be working again. I would like advice on how I can receive this money I.e. into a trust without losing my benefits as I’d like to keep it and leave it to my four children as a nest egg. Thank you 

Sorry I wanted to add this to my last comment…

Congrates on kicking cancers !!!!!!, and for being in remission, although if you were to continue to claim UC there would be an expectation of unless demand incapable, if thats the case then have you looked at PIP. 

Having £50K in your name will stop your UC and gifting it to your children will not change this in the eyes of DWP.  Many would ask why should you continue to receive UC with £50K sat in your bank account. 

There are other things you can do with this which are allowed and MAY allow you to remain on UC eg pay it to your mortgage or reduce your debts however your wish to pass it onto your children is a personal wish and as harsh as it sounds no concern of DWP. 

Grumpy_chap

Campbell20 said:

Hi again. I’ve been advised by my auntie that my her and my mum gifted the land owned by my grandparents to their children in 2012. Apparently my mum has paperwork showing this. This I believe was my grandparent’s wish. The land has recently been bought by developers and the money has been distributed to the 11 people in the family, 3 daughters of my grandparents and 8 grandchildren. As this land was gifted to me in 2012 and only recently been sold do I have to declare this to universal credit? My mum is still alive so it’s not part of a will. 

I may be reading this and confusing things but who are the "they" and "their" in each case?

Grandparents died in 2012.  You are the grandchild of the deceased and there are 8 grandchildren in total.

Your Auntie and your Mum gifted the land to "their children" in 2012. 
Is that "their" the children of the Grandparents (of which there are 3)?
Or is that "their" the children of your Auntie and your Mum, so the Grandchildren of thee Grandparents (of which there are 8)?

OR, in 2012, the land was gifted to the 3 children and 8 grandchildren, so split 11 ways in total?

Who did the developers buy the land from?
Normally, the money from the sale of the land would be split in line with the ownership of the land prior to the sale.

I am not an expert on benefits but it is my understanding that if you owned a portion of the land since 2012, then that should have been declared as capital from that point.
The value of the capital may be open to debate if your ownership was 1/11th of the total so you could not beneficially use the land or sell your part easily.

HillStreetBlues

Grumpy_chap said:

Campbell20 said:

Hi again. I’ve been advised by my auntie that my her and my mum gifted the land owned by my grandparents to their children in 2012. Apparently my mum has paperwork showing this. This I believe was my grandparent’s wish. The land has recently been bought by developers and the money has been distributed to the 11 people in the family, 3 daughters of my grandparents and 8 grandchildren. As this land was gifted to me in 2012 and only recently been sold do I have to declare this to universal credit? My mum is still alive so it’s not part of a will. 

I may be reading this and confusing things but who are the "they" and "their" in each case?

Grandparents died in 2012.  You are the grandchild of the deceased and there are 8 grandchildren in total.

Your Auntie and your Mum gifted the land to "their children" in 2012. 
Is that "their" the children of the Grandparents (of which there are 3)?
Or is that "their" the children of your Auntie and your Mum, so the Grandchildren of thee Grandparents (of which there are 8)?

OR, in 2012, the land was gifted to the 3 children and 8 grandchildren, so split 11 ways in total?

Who did the developers buy the land from?
Normally, the money from the sale of the land would be split in line with the ownership of the land prior to the sale.

I am not an expert on benefits but it is my understanding that if you owned a portion of the land since 2012, then that should have been declared as capital from that point.
The value of the capital may be open to debate if your ownership was 1/11th of the total so you could not beneficially use the land or sell your part easily.

It's very confusing as it could read mother sold land, but if land was left to grandchildren why was it the mother who sold it? Also age is important as it wouldn't count until OP was 18.

Jyana

HillStreetBlues said:

Campbell20 said:

Hi again. I’ve been advised by my auntie that my her and my mum gifted the land owned by my grandparents to their children in 2012. Apparently my mum has paperwork showing this. This I believe was my grandparent’s wish. The land has recently been bought by developers and the money has been distributed to the 11 people in the family, 3 daughters of my grandparents and 8 grandchildren. As this land was gifted to me in 2012 and only recently been sold do I have to declare this to universal credit? My mum is still alive so it’s not part of a will. 

Who sold the land? How old are you?

And why have you never been told any of this until now?

I think you need to know exactly what was stated in the original will about the land. Was it left to the children, or did it actually state in the will that it was to be broken down and also split between the grandchildren too? Just saying it was your grandparents wishes doesn't make it legally so. Especially as you have never been told about owning this piece of land until now. This may well make a big difference in not only your liabilities here, but anyone else who is either on benefits now, or has been in the years since the will came to force.

ElwoodBlues

Campbell20 said:

Hi again. I’ve been advised by my auntie that my her and my mum gifted the land owned by my grandparents to their children in 2012. Apparently my mum has paperwork showing this. This I believe was my grandparent’s wish. The land has recently been bought by developers and the money has been distributed to the 11 people in the family, 3 daughters of my grandparents and 8 grandchildren. As this land was gifted to me in 2012 and only recently been sold do I have to declare this to universal credit? My mum is still alive so it’s not part of a will. 

Depending on what's been done exactly legally, you might be better to tear up that paperwork and pretend it never existed, keeping the land in your mum didn't gift you the land in 2012. Otherwise you'd likely have no entitlement to UC since 2012, and when they find out they might decide they want back everything they've paid out to you since then. 

Sounds like what they've done was done to avoid/spread CGT and/or inheritance tax. Which was fine except for how it affects your entitlement to some benefits.