Inheritance and Universal Credit

emilyp89

Good morning,
My father passed away in November and he had several private pensions. These are due to be divided equally between myself and my Brother soon. I am a single Mum of two and currently receive UC. I work 30 hours a week and receive about £600 a month UC.  I understand if the amount I inherit is £6000 or more, this will affect the amount of UC I receive and if over £16000 then it will stop completely. 
My Dad wanted me to use the money I receive as a deposit to get a mortgage. However, if I lose my UC I will end up having to use his money just to pay my rent and living costs. I don't want to do this. Can I put the money in a trust fund or somewhere until I am ready to buy a house or can my brother keep all the money until I need it?

Keep_pedalling

No you can’t put your inheritance in trust, and hiding it in with your brother would amount to benefit fraud so please don’t go there. The best thing to do if the inheritance is large enough to allow you to do so, would be to buy a property as soon as possible.

HillStreetBlues

As pointed out too late now, if those were your dad's wishes then should have formed part of his will, then could have been put in trust.
Only way now is to declare the money when you receive it. The executor(s) aren't allowed to delay payments for benefit purposes.  

justwhat

Depends how much it is. You don't say what age you are. You could put a load into a pension but it would be locked away until retirement age.

Why not just buy a house ? 

Devongardener

Whatever your father wanted to use your inheritance for, trying to circumvent the rules would be fraudulent.
If you’d had these funds before claiming UC you wouldn’t have been eligible and would have to use it for general living costs anyway.