Inheritance and UC

Crazydennie

My friend's father passed away without a will and the money is due to go to his mother who was estranged from his father.  She intends to give him the money.  My Friend is on Full PIP, UC and LCWRA.  What is the best way for this money to be passed to him without affecting his benefits?  The inheritance is circa 25k which I don't think will last long if his UC is taken away as he has rent to pay?

p00hsticks

I'm no expert but as he is not entitled to inherit the money directly himself, I would have thought it would be OK for his mother to gradually give him the money a bit at a time as gifts, or for her to use it to pay for some of his bills rather than give him the money outright.

Muttleythefrog

Agree with the above advice.. he's not actually inheriting the money but the person who will (mother) wants to give it to him. To avoid that impacting his means tested support like UC then they need to work with him to ensure he never goes above the £6k in savings lower limit. Need to probably be creative on that and the above poster offers solutions... giving bits at a time, paying bills for him. But unfortunately giving him it all in one go would end means tested benefits... his PIP would be fine as that's not means tested. On the face of it it sounds like they have a good relationship and so hopefully they can make arrangements suitable... possibly even spending a bit on holidays together... who knows. Failing all of that there is the option of her keeping it and passing it on via her will... if he wouldn't particularly benefit from taking any of it now... but of course that in itself carries risk as she could die in a year and he inherits the lot in one go.

swingaloo

The mother cant just give the money away. Is the mother on benefits? 

elsien

The mother can if she wants to. 

There may be consequences in some circumstances, but she can still do what she wants with it. 

Crazydennie

There are no benefit implications for the mother who has a state and private pension but no means tested benefits. 

Gradually sounds like the way to go. Thanks everyone. 

elsien

How old is the mother and what is her health like? If her current health means that she may need care in the future then giving the money away could be an issue further down the line.