Proceeds of will payout

Marmaduke123

I also don't believe he doesn't have a bank account for his benefits to be paid into. How does the mobile phone contract work? Are you paying for it? It seems clear he wants to hide the inheritance from the DWP. It's a very tricky situation but I think I would decline to pay out the money unless into a bank account in his own name.

Evolwen

I think he's on the Payment Exception Scheme so he can only get £100 at once, either from a post office or paypoint centre - it's not a bank account.
The mobile phone contract is owned and paid by me but I've taken that money from his share of other proceeds (house contents mainly).

doodling

Hi,

Richard_Newlove said:

Thanks @doodling, the options definitely are messy!
The amount involved will be in the region of £30k, so I'm not sure I'd be allowed to take that much cash, and definitely not in one withdrawal. I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable handling that over to anyone.

I've looked into cheques and some banks have a limit on maximum amounts (£10k and £15k seem to be the limit), but again, where's he going to cash those in, even if I split the amount over two or three cheques?

I don't really want to have to sit on the money but get the feeling it might end up like that, at least temporarily - could you explain more about it being treated as a trust please?

I'm not even sure the threat of me telling the DWP would work, other than, as someone else has suggested, the DWP might be able to provide some form of ID proof that could help him get a basic bank account. 
I don't have a moral problem in letting the DWP know; if he's inheriting 2 or 3 years worth of benefits, then he shouldn't be claiming any means-tested benefits. 

One other option is to agree with him that you will give him (say) £1000 a month in cash.  Again, witnessing of the transfer of cash (or at least getting a receipt) is recommended.  At least that sets a timescale for how long you have to worry about this for (2.5 years based on the £30k you mention if it is £1000 a month).  Note my previous comment about telling the DWP - you need to make sure that you aren't seen to be conspiring in benefit fraud with the beneficiary.

With respect to trusts, the basic definition of a trust is where someone holds assets for the benefit of someone else.  A deceased estate is effectively a trust where the executor owns the assets on behalf of the beneficiaries whilst the estate is being settled (which is why you might see the words executor and trustee used almost interchangeably in a will, even if the will doesn't explicitly create any trusts).  An estate is only supposed to last as long as it would reasonably take for the executor to settle it (and what is reasonable would vary depending on the nature of the estate).

Once you start holding assets on behalf of someone else on an open-ended basis it stops looking like you are the executor of an estate and starts looking like you are the trustee of some other kind of trust.  My suspicion is that you'd have a bare trust and providing there is no income (i.e. interest) or capital gain on any assets held then I don't think tax would be payable.  If there was interest or capital gains then my googling suggests that the beneficiary of a bare trust would be liable to pay the tax due.  I don't know whether you would need to register the trust with HMRC.  I'm not an expert in trusts so if you think this situation might persist for some time then advice from a solicitor might be appropriate.

elsien

I have to be honest, with the extra Information provided, if I was the OP I would not be fannying around giving him £100 a week for however many years it is. He sounds perfectly capable of sorting out a  bank account, but he is choosing not to for whatever reason. 

BungalowBel

Give him a cheque? Will that work? Then he will either have to open a Bank Account or do without his money.

Evolwen

BungalowBel said:

Give him a cheque? Will that work? Then he will either have to open a Bank Account or do without his money.

I was just about to ask this! I've gone to 2 separate solicitors and neither of them are able (willing?) to help. One recommended citizens advice so I've sent them a message too. 
There is a limit on the amount on a cheque (Lloyds will do a max of £10k), but if a cheque is legal, then I could just split the total onto 3 or 4 cheques. Anyone able to confirm if a cheque is legal? Maybe with a receipt or acknowledgement from my brother?

Savvy_Sue

Cheques is how I distributed final value of estate I was executing. Sum too large for free online transfer, and beneficiaries didn't want to pay for CHAPS.

Evolwen

Savvy_Sue said:

Cheques is how I distributed final value of estate I was executing. Sum too large for free online transfer, and beneficiaries didn't want to pay for CHAPS.

Thanks Sue. Can I ask, do you know what the limit is for a free online transfer? Or does that vary by bank?

Savvy_Sue

Probably varies by bank. My final cheques were more than £10k. Of course, I was sending them to people who'd asked for that payment method!

doodling

Ho,

There is no point to a cheque.  If the beneficiary doesn't do anything with it then the executor still owes the money.

In theory there are legal options e.g. applying to a court for direction, or paying the money into court but you should take legal advice before pursuing them because neither are simple solutions and they may come with costs to the executor.