Inheritance

nomuny

Hi,
Further to my last post. I posted this in the savings board and they advised asking on here.

They were of the opinion I'd be best placed using it for my mortgage and replacing furniture, carpets etc that are old. Which I could do as most of my things are old. They said Pay off debts but apart from mortgage I don't have any.
 I just actually hate being on UC. I feel like I'm being watched by everyone in case I do something that doesn't fit in with their definition of feeling acutely depressed and anxious and feel like not having to deal with them may be a weight off. Past experience tells me whilst I stay on this anything I do to try and help myself might be seen as me not needing to be on lcwra and it's made me feel unable to move forward on any way. So what would anyone advise me to use the money for? I didn't ever think I'd have this to deal with as I'd hope to be in a better place by the time it came about.

Having always,been on a low income I am about to inherit what to me is a large amount of money. (I know in the grand scheme it isn't but...) It is already a mixed feelings inheritance as it's after the death of my remaining parent. I'm in receipt of UC (income based lcwra) for depression and anxiety and have actually always found having to deal with DWP anxiety inducing itself. The idea was that without them in the background, that pressure would be gone and I could maybe live off the inheritance money for a while. At the same time try and get myself to a place where I could maybe work part-time with the money as a safety net if it was too much. So the question is what do I do with the money to get the best from it as it will be my only income (at least for a while). I'm 61. Remaining mortgage on my home is approx 20000. Do I pay that off? I have no other savings. 

Thank you.

Brie

@poppy12345
I think someone suggested you could help.

Previous thread for reference - Possible 40000 inheritance. — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Grumpy_chap

Inheritance is not income.  It is capital.
Capital is only considered at the end of assessment period so you may wish to consider the timing that the Estate releases the funds.
Paying off debt is never deprivation of capital.
Purchase of carpets, furniture etc is unlikely to be considered deprivation of capital.
You can also use some of the money to enjoy yourself - so can take a holiday or such like.

Newcad

Hi @nomunny

In your position then i would:

Pay off the Mortgage, that gives less to pay out each month straight away.

You are almost certainly still going to have more than £16,000 left as savings/capital so without some very careful timing of quite big spending (to get under £16k again in the same assessment period that you get the inheritance money) you will not be eligible for UC.

It could be done, depending on dates things happen, but being practical it's probably best to look at things as if it can't be done in one assessment period.

You can of course spend the remaining money on whatever you want, but if you envisage claiming UC again once your savings get below £16k then you should just spend on 'reasonable' things rather than extravagances.

New carpets, furniture, decorating, etc  would be reasonable (a world cruise probably not).

I hear what you say about not relying on UC, but being frank then if you pay off the mortgage I don't see there being enough left to last until State Pension Age, so UC will be back in the picture before you can get your pension.

If you don't pay off the mortgage then it's similar, UC will stop because of savings/capital, then the monthly mortgage payment will just reduce your savings/capital faster until you can claim UC again once they get below £16k.

Spoonie_Turtle

If it looks like you'll become ineligible for UC due to savings (even just a month) it's definitely worth claiming ESA for NI credits before your UC claim ends.  This will keep your LCWRA status so you don't have to have another WCA when you reclaim UC.

nomuny

Spoonie_Turtle said:

If it looks like you'll become ineligible for UC due to savings (even just a month) it's definitely worth claiming ESA for NI credits before your UC claim ends.  This will keep your LCWRA status so you don't have to have another WCA when you reclaim UC.

Thank you for this information. How would this work? I'm not aware of how to go about this at all. This was one of my many worries, that I would have to start from scratch as although as I say I need home improvements, I doubt I could work it so they were done in time to keep the claim open. This is feeling like an absolute nightmare on top of the bereavement. 

Spoonie_Turtle

nomuny said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

If it looks like you'll become ineligible for UC due to savings (even just a month) it's definitely worth claiming ESA for NI credits before your UC claim ends.  This will keep your LCWRA status so you don't have to have another WCA when you reclaim UC.

Thank you for this information. How would this work? I'm not aware of how to go about this at all. This was one of my many worries, that I would have to start from scratch as although as I say I need home improvements, I doubt I could work it so they were done in time to keep the claim open. This is feeling like an absolute nightmare on top of the bereavement. 

I don't know exactly, sorry.  Usually people claim online for ESA but you would probably just get a letter saying you don't qualify (for payments) because you don't have sufficient NI contribitions.  Maybe you'd have to phone them up?  You'd probably have to specify you want to claim NI credits on the grounds of limited capability for work.  How easy it is to get them to open that kind of claim in reality as you're currently claiming UC, I don't know, but it surely must be possible.  (Credits claims are usually because someone isn't eligible for any other benefit to be paid, whereas in your case you're needing to open the claim before your UC ends.)