DWP and money from parents death.

[xsunnysuex]

Does anyone have any experience in what happens if you're on income related benefits. And you get payments into your bank account from life insurance and closed bank accounts?
My mum passed away last week. Her bank account balance has been transferred to me. Also expected is life insurance for the funeral.
This amount will probably be around £10,000 in total.
I'm on benefits that I can't go over £6000 for my claim not to be affected.
This isn't my money. The funeral will take a large chunk of it. And what is left has to be split between me, and my brother and sister.
I'm not sure of the best way to deal with it.

 

[lazythursday]

Should it have been transferred to you so quickly? Surely that shouldn't happen till probate is granted? I didn't get hold of any of my dad's money for months and months, though I think the funeral got paid for via the executor.

 

[xsunnysuex]

Should it have been transferred to you so quickly? Surely that shouldn't happen till probate is granted? I didn't get hold of any of my dad's money for months and months, though I think the funeral got paid for via the executor.

I think you only need probate if it's over a certain amount.
This was made up of mums bank balance. And two life insurances. It can be dealt with quickly.

 

[WouldBe]

I think you only need probate if it's over a certain amount.
This was made up of mums bank balance. And two life insurances. It can be dealt with quickly.

Might be best to contact DWP and explain it to them.

Worst that can happen is they reduce your payments until the bank balance drops back below 6k.

 

[xsunnysuex]

I did just find this.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I think you only need probate if it's over a certain amount.

think so - we didn't need probate for my dad - he hadn't made a will so everything (his half share of house and money / insurance payments) went to mum-tat. we did have to do 'letters of administration' with a solicitor, but that appears to be because there wasn't a will.

this page (from CAB) says

You usually need probate or letters of administration to deal with an estate if it includes property such as a flat or a house. Otherwise, you may not need probate or letters of administration if:

• the estate is just made up of cash (that is, bank notes and coins) and personal possessions such as a car, furniture, and jewellery
• all the property in the estate is owned as beneficial joint tenants This property automatically becomes wholly owned by the other owner
• you had a joint bank account
• the amount of money is small
• you discover that the estate is insolvent, that is, there is not enough money in the estate to pay all the debts, taxes and expenses
• there are certain life insurance policies and pension benefits in the estate.

i'm not sure how you would go about finding out whether probate is needed - this isn't entirely clear about what a 'small' amount of money means.

this page (co-op legal services) suggests £ 30K may be the threshold for needing probate. may be worth ferreting further on their website.

i'm not a fan of the idea of handing money to lawyers, but there are times when it can be worth a small lawyers fee to avoid getting in to a deeper tangle later.

 

[geminisnake]

I would let the DWP know the money is coming into your account until it is paid out on bills and other inheritances, fingers crossed you get a nice person

 

[xsunnysuex]

Decided I'm not going to rock the boat with DWP.
The funeral and everything that goes with that has been paid.
The care home hit us with £2000 fees this morning.
Will have bank statements, setting out everything that's being paid. Plus invoices If DWP want to see.
There will not be much left tbh. Certainly nothing that will tip me over £6000.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Decided I'm not going to rock the boat with DWP.
The funeral and everything that goes with that has been paid.
The care home hit us with £2000 fees this morning.
Will have bank statements, setting out everything that's being paid. Plus invoices If DWP want to see.
There will not be much left tbh. Certainly nothing that will tip me over £6000.

dunno.

may be worth letting them know what's going on (talking to someone on the phone may not have resulted in any record being made at their end even if they said it would be OK) rather than risk them noticing chunks of money going in and out of your account and cutting your benefits off while they investigate...

 

[xsunnysuex]

dunno.

may be worth letting them know what's going on (talking to someone on the phone may not have resulted in any record being made at their end even if they said it would be OK) rather than risk them noticing chunks of money going in and out of your account and cutting your benefits off while they investigate...

Yeh maybe right. I really don't like dealing with these people though.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Yeh maybe right. I really don't like dealing with these people though.

is it possible to write to them or e-mail rather than hanging on the phone for ages? i'm a bit out of touch with the system...

 

[xsunnysuex]

is it possible to write to them or e-mail rather than hanging on the phone for ages? i'm a bit out of touch with the system...

I will think on it. Just all too much at the moment.

 

[geminisnake]

Is there any kind of adviser person at the care home who could help or know about this? Cos you can't be the first person this has affected. Hugs to you, take some time out if you can

 

[xsunnysuex]

Is there any kind of adviser person at the care home who could help or know about this? Cos you can't be the first person this has affected. Hugs to you, take some time out if you can

I don't think so. x

 

[Derek S-H]

LakieLady - your expertise is required!

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

At the moment the DWP does not have automatic access to people's bank accounts. If your bank balance is soon back to being very low nobody from the DWP will ever know about it. As long as you keep all the documentation anyway then if it ever becomes a problem you can explain it away if and when you need to (probably never).

 

[cupid_stunt]

Should it have been transferred to you so quickly? Surely that shouldn't happen till probate is granted? I didn't get hold of any of my dad's money for months and months, though I think the funeral got paid for via the executor.

I think you only need probate if it's over a certain amount.
This was made up of mums bank balance. And two life insurances. It can be dealt with quickly.

I got told different things by different people at the time, but in the end NatWest paid the funeral directors*, which meant the balance in my mother's account dropped below the amount they were prepared to transfer to me without probate**, leaving only her bungalow subject to probate.

* the funeral directors refunded this to me, because there was a funeral plan in place, which NatWest hadn't asked about, so I didn't volunteer that information.
** I discovered this amount varied between different banks.

 

[xsunnysuex]

At the moment the DWP does not have automatic access to people's bank accounts. If your bank balance is soon back to being very low nobody from the DWP will ever know about it. As long as you keep all the documentation anyway then if it ever becomes a problem you can explain it away if and when you need to (probably never).

That's my way of thinking. I don't deal with DWP unless I really have to.

 

[Derek S-H]

That's my way of thinking. I don't deal with DWP unless I really have to.

Hopefully, Lakie will see that I've tagged her into this conversation and reply accordingly.

And I completely get why you are hesitant and reluctant to have any contact with them. Their reputation for fairness and compassion is simply appalling and, it seems, they grab any opportunity to sanction you.

They also seem willing to either not know their own bloody rules or just break them when convenient. They're happy to stop someone's benefits whilst they "investigate"; in the meantime you have no income and are slowly starving to death.

Your post #5 suggested that your circumstances wouldn't be an issue and that it's best to contact and inform them of your change in circumstances, no matter how temporary. But hang fire and see what Lakie says.

 

[LakieLady]

Sorry for your loss, xsunnysuex.

Welfare rights officer here!

I really don't envisage this causing a problem. If you can get quotes for the funeral, you should be able to pay for it before you confirm the date, and then can finalise the arrangements when you're all ready to do so. I'd advise that you do this if you can.

When you say the money will be split between you and your siblings, is that specified in a will, insurance policy or other document, or is that just what you've agreed among yourselves?

While I think it's vanishingly unlikely to be a problem as the sum is relatively small, if you are the next of kin (ie, oldest child if no surviving spouse) there's an outside chance that the DWP might want to know why you gave a large chunk of the money away. Should this happen, and there was no will, it's possible that the DWP might think you have given money away to avoid having your benefits reduced (known as "intentional deprivation of capital). Should this happen, just tell them it was a verbal agreement between you all.

I would advise you to keep receipts for everything you have to pay for in connection with your mother's estate, in case you need to show what happened to the money, and hang on to her bank statements etc so you have evidence if they decide to look into it.

Probate can be vexing, as different banks etc sometimes have different limits for the threshold at which they require probate. (My late mother had 3 different accounts, all with different limits: luckily, the sum she left was below all of them.)

Even if you have over £6k, the deduction from benefits is relatively small (£4.35 per month for every £250 or part thereof for UC, £1pw per £250 in pre-UC benefits - pension credit is quite different, and not in my head because I don't work with clients over pension age, but I can easily look it up). It's only when you hit £16k that entitlement stops completely.

So sorry that you're having all this extra worry when you're so recently bereaved, it's shit really. PM me if there's anything you want to ask.

 

[LakieLady]

At the moment the DWP does not have automatic access to people's bank accounts. If your bank balance is soon back to being very low nobody from the DWP will ever know about it. As long as you keep all the documentation anyway then if it ever becomes a problem you can explain it away if and when you need to (probably never).

BIB: this is true, but they do get to know, often long after the fact. My team's collective view is that because interest paid is reported to HMRC by the banks etc, that info is eventually shared with DWP. We get the occasional case where people hear from the DWP 2-3 years later, wanting to look at clients' bank statements for the period in which they came into some money.

Keeping all the paperwork is excellent advice, especially when the money is only "resting" in your account!

 

[xsunnysuex]

LakieLady Thank you very much.
Mum's insurance policies paid out very quickly. So I have actually paid the funeral off in full.
I've also paid the funeral caterers. And today paid for the flowers
We had an unexpected bill of £2000 for care fees also yesterday.
After all has been paid out. There will only be roughly £900 each left, for myself and my brother and sister. It will be no where near the DWP limit of £6000. And yes, that was decided between us to just share it.
I've paid it all with the REF Truelove & Sons , Funeral caterers etc on the bank account. Also I have the printed invoice for the funeral. So I have all proof of where the money has gone.
I really hope I've covered myself here.
Thank you.