Receiving inheritance money when you are on UC

itsthelittlethings

HillStreetBlues said:

itsthelittlethings said:

I would think you might get away with paying your children back the money you borrowed from them but I think you need benefits advice.

An issue with that route is would the children legally be able to lend the parents the money, if the parents took it without that consent then it's theft.

More likely that the money was spent on the children's needs, EG not making them homeless or buying food or clothes, that  would mean the money isn't repayable.

I agree on needing expect benefit advice. 

Yeah it’s a bit dodgy.

Uriziel

If they find out that you had money and it is gone they will cancel your claim altogether and since the money will be in the child account and you can no longer access it you're going to have neither benefit income nor the money from the inheritance. Can the money not just be transferred to another relative who can hold on to it until the kids are 18 and then send it to them directly? Alternatively just let HMRC know that you have now over £16k and then spend the money as you normally would and then let them know again once it is under £16k.

Caz3121

I don't see the difference between transferring it to the kids or transferring it to another relative...in both cases it is giving their money away

unforeseen

Uriziel said:

If they find out that you had money and it is gone they will cancel your claim altogether and since the money will be in the child account and you can no longer access it you're going to have neither benefit income nor the money from the inheritance. Can the money not just be transferred to another relative who can hold on to it until the kids are 18 and then send it to them directly?

That would need a DOV, which would also be considered as deprivation of assets

Levatorani123

TELLIT01 said:

As the OP clearly had access to the funds given to the children it's probably that DWP would expect that to be included in the figure supplied to them for total capital/savings.  If that amount took the figure to over £6k it could affect the amount of UC received.

I see. So what is the best thing to do in that regard now as this was  a while ago,  and it definitely took it over that then. However its now well under that. Would they  claim back whatever was overpaid? We  had read that Kids savings couldnt be counted as capital so had no idea that would count, and this was money specifically given to put in a childs account.

Thanks.

Levatorani123

Uriziel said:

If they find out that you had money and it is gone they will cancel your claim altogether and since the money will be in the child account and you can no longer access it you're going to have neither benefit income nor the money from the inheritance. Can the money not just be transferred to another relative who can hold on to it until the kids are 18 and then send it to them directly? Alternatively just let HMRC know that you have now over £16k and then spend the money as you normally would and then let them know again once it is under £16k.

Will they cancel the claim altogether if it is under 16k? Say 14k? My partner does  have around 1.5k debt in her name to pay off, so theres that.

Thanks.

Grumpy_chap

Levatorani123 said:

TELLIT01 said:

As the OP clearly had access to the funds given to the children it's probably that DWP would expect that to be included in the figure supplied to them for total capital/savings.  If that amount took the figure to over £6k it could affect the amount of UC received.

I see. So what is the best thing to do in that regard now as this was  a while ago,  and it definitely took it over that then. However its now well under that. Would they  claim back whatever was overpaid? We  had read that Kids savings couldnt be counted as capital so had no idea that would count, and this was money specifically given to put in a childs account.

Thanks.

AIUI, given that you had access to the funds in your children's name (and actually did access that money for general purposes), then it is possible that money will be deemed as having been yours all along and could result in an UC overpayment being assessed and then reclaimed.

There are others in the forum that can better advise with regard to child savings as it is not an area where I am knowledgeable.

Yamor

Having access to the funds, and even actually spending the money is only usually relevant if it isn't entirely clear whose money it is, in which case DWP can use the fact that you have access to the funds, or that you actually spent the money, as evidence that the money is in fact yours.

However, if there is clear indisputable evidence that the money is not yours, then the fact that you have access to it should not be relevant. Actually spending the money also should not be relevant, although it may raise questions of whether you have acted in your children's best interests.

born_again

Levatorani123 said:

TELLIT01 said:

As the OP clearly had access to the funds given to the children it's probably that DWP would expect that to be included in the figure supplied to them for total capital/savings.  If that amount took the figure to over £6k it could affect the amount of UC received.

I see. So what is the best thing to do in that regard now as this was  a while ago,  and it definitely took it over that then. However its now well under that. Would they  claim back whatever was overpaid? We  had read that Kids savings couldnt be counted as capital so had no idea that would count, and this was money specifically given to put in a childs account.

Thanks.

Where did the money in your childrens account come from, was it a 3rd party or yourselves?

Was it a case that it was being paid into there to keep you capital/savings below the UC limit?

Levatorani123

born_again said:

Levatorani123 said:

TELLIT01 said:

As the OP clearly had access to the funds given to the children it's probably that DWP would expect that to be included in the figure supplied to them for total capital/savings.  If that amount took the figure to over £6k it could affect the amount of UC received.

I see. So what is the best thing to do in that regard now as this was  a while ago,  and it definitely took it over that then. However its now well under that. Would they  claim back whatever was overpaid? We  had read that Kids savings couldnt be counted as capital so had no idea that would count, and this was money specifically given to put in a childs account.

Thanks.

Where did the money in your childrens account come from, was it a 3rd party or yourselves?

Was it a case that it was being paid into there to keep you capital/savings below the UC limit?

No. The money was paid to us specifically for the childrens savings as a junior ISA, or child trust fund,  but I didnt even realise they had stopped doing CTF.  They did the same when my  first was born back when child trust funds were a thing. The only difference here was this clearly wasnt quite the same thing despite us having to register with their certificates, since we could access it.