Gifting assets?

Mrluvpants

Evening all. My in laws have over 45k in an ISA. Because of this,  they aren't entitled to any benefits.  If they gifted all of the ISA money to my partner, would there be any tax implications for us? And if anyone has done similar, was there any questions asked when they applied for any benefits? We are not worried about inheritance tax.

TIA 

elsien

Regardless of any tax implications, if they are giving their money away purely so they can claim benefits then quite rightly there will be questions about deprivation of capital which is likely to mean that they would not be able to claim any means tested benefits anyway. 

What makes them think it’s okay to do that?

If they have health needs which means they could claim PIP or attendance allowance depending on their age that is not means tested. if they just want other people to pay for them, that’s a different scenario.

Keep_pedalling

It will be classed as deliberate deprivation of assets, so they will still not be able to claim means tested benefits. They seem to have been doing fine up to now, why do they need benefits if they are able to save a decent emergency / holiday fund?

Mrluvpants

I was asking for advice, not judgement. They have worked hard all their lives and saved and now have a small nest egg for emergencies. Compare them to other people that have spent and spent and now can claim everything because they don't have a nest egg.

They don't "want other people to pay for them". They have paid NI and tax over their working lives so they are not asking others to pay for them. 

elsien

Even so, asking other people to pay for them is exactly what they are doing. 

They have saved the money for when they needed it and now when they do need it, they’re planning to give it away. I’m not seeing how giving it to you constitutes the emergency you say that they were saving up for. 

Most of us have paid the system one way or another throughout our lives. And during in their lives that system has paid for healthcare, infrastructure, child benefit and the pension they are now getting, amongst other things. It’s not as if they’ve seen no benefits for all these years

noitsnotme

Mrluvpants said:

Compare them to other people that have spent and spent and now can claim everything because they don't have a nest egg.

Tell them to spend and spend now and then when it’s all gone they can be exactly like those other people 🤷‍♂️