Please help. Inheritance worry

A question about : Please help. Inheritance worry

Hi there,

My mum has inherited 27000 from my fathers death. She receives pension credit and council tax benefit. She doesn't want or need this money and wants to give me and my brother the lion share of it. After the funeral cost and buying a car she s left with about 23000.

She is worried that if she gives my brother and I 7000 each, we may have to pay inheritance tax or she may be accused of deliberate depreciation of her money and will lose her benefits.

This is causing great stress at a time of emotional hardship for her.

Can anyone help please?

Best answers:

• Why would she need benefits when she has over Ј20000 in the bank? She is not entitled to give her money away to keep her means tested benefits it is benefit fraud.
• She has only just received this money last month but has been on pension credit for some time.
• Thanks for accusing my recently widowed mother of fraud by the way.
• How much money does she receive as pension credit and council tax benefit?
  You say she doesn't want or need the money so all she needs to do is put her inheritence money into a savings account and each month withdraw the amount she needs to cover what she will lose by no longer being eligible for the benefits.
  This way the Ј23,000 will pay for many years of pension credit and council tax benefit and she may never need to claim for these again. She would not be accused of deprivation of assets as even if she did live to a ripe old age she could show what she used the money for
• Thanks Tina, any idea which type of account would be best? She hasn't ever had any money and to be honest I know nothing about it either so I wouldn't know where to start. We didn't even know my dad had this money and I don't think he did, it was from an insurance policy he took out 40 or so years ago!
• If she receives pension credit and housing benefit then she does need the money because if she had enough of her own, she wouldn't be receiving means tested benefits?
  https://www.ageuk.org.uk/money-matter...sted-benefits/
  As for accounts that she might use, see https://www.moneysupermarket.com/savings/
• Forget about inheritance tax if the Ј27k is all we're talking about. The amount she inherits will be what's left after paying your father's debts (if he had any) and the funeral and any legal costs. She needs to include whatever she has paid for the car in the amount she declares as having inherited.
  Read up on the subject -
  https://www.direct.gov.uk/en/moneytax...me/dg_10018692
  Your mother may be in an "assessed period" during which her benefits will not change even if she comes into money but she should inform the DWP of the change of circumstance. My mother inherited money from her brother and it didn't change her pension credit payments.
  Your mother does "need" the money or she wouldn't be claiming benefits now. If she gives it away to anyone she will caught by the DOC rules but there is legitimate spending that would be allowed. Older people who come into a lump sum are often advised to try to future-proof their home against the problems that are likely to occur as they get older. Would she benefit from some new furniture which is easier to get out off or a new bed/mattress, replace old white goods to energy-efficient ones that will save her money in the future?
  She may also like to pay for some help in the house or garden.
  These things don't put money in your pocket but, if they make your mother's life better, isn't that worth considering?
• That's a great idea, thanks for that Mojisola. I wonder if anyone knows what levels you are allowed to spend before they think you are deliberately wasting it! Seems like such a hard thing to quantify? Whose to say that she might not want to spend some of the money to treat herself after the bereavement? I think I need to go and ask citizens advice.
• Go and talk to a solicitor, often they are free for the 1st 30 mins consultation, and ask about a "Deed of Variation. This can be done within two years of death if all the beneficiaries agree. Basically it would allow you to change the will, so you and your brother receive Ј7000 each FROM THE ESTATE, and your mum the remaining Ј13000, meaning that she never has the problem.
• Sven day weekend,
  You've clearly got no interest in helping me. For now all I'm going to do is ask that you just post your negativity on other threads. I started this thread asking for help, you've clearly got points to prove. Prov them elsewhere.
  Once again, all I'll do now is warn you to stay off this thread.
• Did your Mum and Dad live together before he died?
• Hi
  Dependant on your mums actual state pension and savings she may still qualify for housing benefit and pension credit guarantee credit even with the 23,000 you can use the turn to us benefit calculator to work this out.
  https://www.turn2us.org.uk/
  And as long as guarantee credit was in payment she would carry on getting her rent and council tax allowance as before. Also if she is still her assessed income period pension credit make not count the capital until it ends thus leaving her still on pension credit and entitled to housing benefit and council.