Hi I hope someone can advise me please. My father sadly passed away and I'm about to receive about £12k inheritance money. my family and I receive working tax credits/child tax and housing benefit as we are on a low income. my partner rents a taxi and pays a lot of money out on the car rent /radio settle and fuel before he even starts to make a wage We are aware that our housing benefit will be reduced but we are thinking of buying a taxi to reduce our out goings on the car and make us better off financially and my partner wont have to work all the hours god sends to make ends meet. If we used £6000 of the money to buy a taxi would the council still reduce our benefit as though we still had £12k or would they calculate how much we earn with our own taxi. thanks for any replies

Hi, Just looking for some advice as am fretting hugely and feeling a bit confused by the rules. To explain as simply as I can... I am currently in receipt of high rate DLA and income related ESA in the support group. I was awarded both of these at reassessment without any difficulty and wasn't even called to a medical for my ESA. I have been on these benefits for a long time and have also been on housing benefit for about two years since I moved into my own flat. I suffer from mental health difficulties including a long term eating disorder and type 1 diabetes which means my physical health is also very poor. I struggle with extreme spending which has been the case for some time. I have mental health issues and I particularly struggle during the evening times when feeling low. I tend to click click click on websites and buy things I do not need, sometimes parcels arrive and I am not even sure of what on earth I have ordered. By extension my eating disorder is anorexia with binge/purging subtype and the amount I spend on food is disgusting, which has been the case for the past 15 years. In October last year I was seriously sexually assaulted and a week later my dad died. This sent me into a spiral of even worse mental health and excessive spending. I try to return things but don't always manage to, and you obviously cannot return food. But I also have a pile of clothes that I've never even worn. I took out a DRO in 2009 because I had racked up so much debt on credit and store cards. This honestly saved me for 6 years as I could not obtain credit, but after it was lifted I managed about a year until I started applying for high interest credit cards and now have a stack of them which I have been trying to keep up with the minimum payments for. A month ago I took out a loan from natwest to try and consolidate these debts a bit and reduce my overdraft which was costing me around £80-90 a month in interest fees. My brother and I are waiting for an inheritance from my father. There was no will and no need for probate as my father rented, so my brother has had to sort everything out. I am not quite sure how much we will have but it will certainly be above the 6k threshold. Currently it is sat in an account my brother opened but when everything is finalised he will transfer half of that money to me. I am so scared that the DWP are going to class my spending as deprivation of capital. I really, really want to pay off all my debts including my loan because the interest on everything is so high and having that debt looming over me is a major stress. But will they allow me to do this? I imagine the loan may be regarded with some scepticism as it was recently taken out, but I was literally desperate and in a situation where I was going to be unable to pay my rent (yes despite the HB payments), I am thinking of ways I can protect myself. I'd perhaps like to have my mother take care of a proportion of the money in a savings account that I cannot touch. If I blow through the inheritance with my recklessness then I will never forgive myself. The only thing I really want to do is go on holiday, health permitting. I have not been out of this country for about 10 years and feel a break would do me some good. But again, will the DWP permit this? Furthermore, what if I wanted to use some of the money to access some private healthcare; therapy or maybe even a short hospital stay to try and get a hold on my eating behaviours? Obviously this could help me towards better mental health and I'd like to think that some day I might be well enough to begin some part time work, which would ultimately be beneficial for both the governments purse as well as myself. The other thing I am worried about is the whole showing receipts and bank statements, the idea of which I find humiliating largely due to my food expenditure. I found this quite distressing during the DRO claim process. How much scrutiny do they place you under exactly? I know it is different for everyone but what is the most likely scenario I will face? I need to ring the DWP soon and I am so anxious about it. I hate making phone calls as it is and don't know where to start/how to explain. Any advice is much appreciated. Please don't think I want to defraud in any way, I just want to do the right thing. Thank you.

Hello all my first post so be kind I am on ESA and DLA and also receive council tax benefit and housing benefit. My wife does not make a claim for any benefits in her own right I included her as you do . A relative of my wife who we had not spoken to for nearly 12 years or more has died but my wife has been told she will receive a share of the estate when it is sold and divided up. I am not mentioned in that the share at all. I need to know when I have to tell LHA and DWP about the money my wife receives as we have no idea of how much and - we have been told it could be many months before we receive any more information. Any help please -

Hello, can anyone help me to fill in this directions questionnaire, it is a long story I have to tell. Myself and My Partner were living in a two bedroom bungalow that we purchased in 2006 we have 3 children now and the bungalow was too small but we couldn’t afford to move, his parents (who at the time were giving £50k to my partners brother and sister) said they would pay for an extension to our bungalow to the same value (because they didn’t trust him with money) this was great my partners dad instructed a builder (sorry trying to make this as short as possible) who built the extension (started April 2016 finished July 2016) I had no say in who was contracted to build I did have a say in the kitchen as long as I kept it below a certain figure and the bathroom, the builder was a shoddy worker in my opinion, told us we had to move out for a couple of days while he knocked through meanwhile 3 months later and still living at my parents while the builder (a friend of my partners dad) a man in his very late 50s and one other person was coming to my house at 9 am and leaving at 2 I left for work and to drop kids at school at 8:30 and came home around 2:30 there was no chance to speak to the builder I even took a day off work just so I could catch him to talk to (he was working on the roof and left my house exposed and the rain had poured into my kitchen hallway loft which I still had all my property in which got ruined) when I finally got to talking to him to ask why he left the house exposed why we were supposed to be moved out only for a few days and why it had turned into months he simply replied I am not working for you. My partners dad was not much help either he only used to come to give the man his cheques to which I didn’t even know how much was being paid out, eventually his dad realised he was being taken for a ride had an argument with the builder the work was botch finished and that was that. My partner then asked me in around November 2016 could I sign this piece of paper as my dad has spent so much on the house , it’s to do with tax , he said, so I did. Around December 2016 I was aware my father in law was pursuing the builder for shoddy unfinished work through a solicitor (the building work cannot be signed off until further works are finished which the builder has just ignored requests to come back and do) March 2017 I left the home with my 3 children after suffering domestic abuse I moved in with my mum and dad, on the 31st March I received a solicitor letter from mum and dad in law saying I owe them £47k. Before extension my bungalow worth £130k Then on 14th April another letter showing a loan agreement I had supposed to have signed on the 2nd April 2016 and with a valuation of my Home (£145k) and offering to buy me out for £5000. I was flabbergasted I could not afford legal help I just didn’t reply, in August 2017 I received another letter informing me they intend to go to court to recoup this money (all the while their son is living in the house and has changed the locks) i received the court papers and filed a defence but I’m just stuck now, I have this questionnaire to fill in by 16th November , I’m just annoyed that my house was worth £130k before works took place ive spent 11 years of my life paying my mortgage had the work not been done to sell it and split the interest I would have been looking at around £28k to walk away with, it’s had £47k spent on it and now it’s only worth £145k I know the money was really for him and they can have it back for him (which is why they are doing it) but the fact they controlled the whole thing (we have a builder living next door and the build should have only come to £35k had we had any say) it just annoys me they are calling it a loan when it wasn’t at all, surely if it was a loan discussion about repayment would have taken place, time scales etc the fact they only asked me for the repayment not both of us and the works have not been worth it and eaten into the interest already built up in the property. I am now in rented house with my children who’s father has not paid one penny towards since I left has not seen them since July I contacted child maintenance he has denied paternity of two of them (just to get out of paying, although he thought, he is obviously the father and the results have showed that so he is supposed to make payments now but hasn’t because he has put a change of circumstances in with the cms but he still has to pay (I am still waiting though, I won’t hold my breath) just trying to paint a picture of the people I’m dealing with) meanwhile I’m working two jobs just to try to provide my children with some sort of nicer life. the best thing about this is being free, now , we are all so much happier. To be fair they are going to get the attachment on the house which is what they are going to court for to ensure their sons interests because money talks I can’t afford a solicitor to help me I want to fight it all the way the best I can because it wasn’t a loan it was a gift. The “loan agreement” which I am supposed to have signed is an a4 piece of paper with this sentence on it “ we hereby loan the sum of £50k ( fifty thousand pounds) to (my partner name) and (my name) of (my address.) The loan is subject to an interest of 0% and is repayable on demand. Then my signature his signature and both parents signature I didn’t sign this I signed something in November 2016 not on this dated 2nd April I was even at work that day. Has anyone got any advice what so ever? Please xx

Not sure if I am on the right site but here goes! My husband and I are both 66 and live in a housing association bungalow. We both receive state pensions and my husband receives DLA at the highest level. My mother sadly passed away last November and I will be receiving an inheritance although I don't know how much as her estate is going through probate at the moment. I would think it would be between 60K and 90K but that is an educated guess. At the moment we receive housing and council tax benefits but I know that will not continue once I receive my inheritance. My two main concerns are firstly, will we have to leave our home in which we have lived for seven years when my husband became too poorly to work? Secondly I have read a bit about "depravation of income" but am still confused. Will I be able to help my daughter financially by paying for things that need doing and also will I be able to put money into a trust or something similar for my two young grandchildren? I would very much appreciate your advice on this as at the moment it is giving me sleepless nights particularly thinking we might lose our home. Many thanks.

General question - if you hold a joint account, and one of the account holders dies, how much of the joint account would be considered part of the deceased's estate, for Inheritance Tax purposes? Example 1 Husband and wife have a joint account of £100,000; husband dies. Is £50,000 considered part of his estate, and the other £50,00 considered as just a part of the wife's assets? Example 2 Husband, wife and two adult offspring have a joint account of £100,000; husband dies. Is £25,000 considered part of his estate, and £25,000 considered part of each of the 3 dependants' assets?

I am seperated and live in the former matrimonial home (no young children) there are two restrictions on the property in my ex husbands sole name. I bought the ex's beneficial interest from the trustee in 2009 when he (the ex) was declared bankrupt, for a nominal fee using the same solicitor as the trustee. I was unaware at that time that they were not dissolved in the bankruptcy. I only discovered that they remained 6 years later when he left me. I have recently learnt that he (the ex) will be inheriting 50% shares in two properties and will be getting a lump sum. This of course sticks in my throat a little given that throughout our entire marriage I lived under threat from debt collectors, bailiffs and HMRC because he never submitted tax returns or paid anything he could get away with. Only a few days ago he told me and I quote 'that house has nothing to do with me' So he swans off with the new love of his life leaving me with a huge interest only mortgage that will end in 10 years (I will be 64 then) and any equity I may have had will pay off his debt whilst he lives mortgage free! My questions are: 1) Would I have any grounds for potentially suing the solicitors for not acting in my best interest in the purchase of the beneficial interest, because I feel if it wasn't the same solicitors acting for both the trustee and myself they would probably advised me of the consequences. 2) Can the creditors with the restrictions try to collect it from him direct if they knew he had money/other properties with equity, or can they only collect it from the sale of my home now they have restrictions. 3) When we divorce and it comes to the financial side of things, would a judge expect him to pay off his debt as he's going to be financially secure and I'm not. I know he'll have to stay on the mortgage and I will be ordered to use my best endeavours to get him removed, but that's not going to happen on my income, that shouldnt affect his ability to buy himself somewhere to live because he'll have enough not to need a mortgage anyway. I cannot afford a solicitor, I have paid off over £3,000 in mortgage arrears accrued before he left, and am only now two years later just about getting back on my feet emotionally and financially. Any advice would be massively appreciated on the subjects of divorce and the restrictions as its worrying me immensely Thank you for reading my sob story

I normally manage to avoid the store exit reps, those who are selling double glazing, conservatories etc, However, yesterday whilst I was at the Range, I got caught by a lady working for a law firm offering an hour's free advice on how to avoid assets being gobbled up by Care Home Fees and Inheritance Tax. I have already written a will, as has hubby, with the help of our own solicitor - we are tenants in common on a mortgage free property and have both nominated our son to inherit our share of the property and assets in the event one of us dies before the other. The chances of our having property value and assets that would create a need to pay inheritance tax is in the realms of fantasy (unless we come up on the premium bonds or win the lottery). The lady who was making appointments for her firm seemed to bat back my responses to her questions making like despite the plans already in place, that the authorities would still be able to place a charge on the home in the event one of us requires admission to a care home - despite the other still living in the home ? I have had a read of the following article in the Guardian and used their calculator using a hypothetical situation. According to the result of the Q/A - then if only one of us required admission to a care home and the other left still living in the property then the person who was admitted would not have their share of the property included in any calculation for fees.. this was not what we were told at the Range ? https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/aug/28/tenancy-common-care-home-fee-solution I have also looked at Age UK's website http://www.ageuk.org.uk/ I believe that I might have been misled by the above person in order to secure an appointment. The flyer I have been given indicates that there will one hour's free legal advice worth £200.00 VAT. I am assuming that if we were to go ahead with the appointment then any time outside of that hour will be charged at that rate. I will not be taking the Firm up on their offer, instead, I will contact my own solicitor on Monday to ensure that we have covered all bases, but would still be interested in hearing if anyone else has been caught out like this ?

Hi, I'm trying to help a friend. Child is three years old, mother was common law wife of the child's father. Father has been killed in a work related accident. The employer has made a payment (from Avia) through a solicitor engaged by the mother. The child is the beneficiary of the very small estate. The solicitor will only pay the monies into a the Child's account which has to be a trust account with two signatories and flatly refuses to pay into a simple Child's account. We have been unable to find an High Street bank that offers such an account. The solicitor is pushing the mother to go to a company that specialises in Trust accounts but this would be a big hit on the very small amount of money involved, less than £20K. 1) Does she have to have a trust account? 2) If yes, where can we setup such account ourselves to save taking a kit on the funds?

My father has a house which is quite big with 6 bedrooms, 2 receptions, two toilets a utility room, a bathroom, cellar, attic room and large garden and yes a reasonable size kitchen. He is due to get it valued soon but we imagine it is worth between £700 - £800,000. As most of us have moved out of the home we wanted to convert the house into 3 flats and want to know whether this would de-value to increase the value of house as it would be in 3 flats and how this would impact on us in terms of inheritance tax...does anyone know???

Hello everyone, I recently stopped my claim for JSA, I am still unemployed and my wife works part time. However, my father died in July last year and between my brother and I we received inheritance from the house and savings etc. This money took my savings over the threshold for benefits. So, I stopped my claim as I wasn't receiving any money and it hardly seemed worth going through the Jobcentre motions to claim nothing! Now, my question is, (and I can't seem to get through on any number for the NI or Pensions that the JCP gave me) would my leaving the JSA stop or change my pension? I worked for 20 years paying Income based contributions and then signed on for the last 6 or 7. The JCP advisor said if there was a problem I could sign on for "credit only" JSA? Would I need to do this, or can I just pay NI contributions myself while I'm looking for work? Any advice and help appreciated, thanks in advance! Andy

My friend Lee, who I posted about on here a while ago, cannot work as he has severe epilepsy. He had his money stopped and was told to get a job, but won his appeal a while ago. All benefits have just been renewed this year. with no problem whatsoever. He gets ESA and is in the support group. He gets DLA at high rate. He has his rent paid by HB and also his Council Tax. He lives in a one bedroom ground floor council flat in a lovely little block, and has done for 20 years. The extra money has enabled him to kit it out so his home is safe as it can be for his disabilities. 4 years ago his father was involved in a dreadful motorway pile up in which his partner and her grandson were killed. Dad was severely injured and never recovered, and died earlier this year. He was a simple man, owned nothing, and there was no will. The insurance company who dealt with his claim paid out last week to the tune of 174K. Lee´s older sister dealt with it all entirely, Lee would not have been able to deal with it. The money has been paid to the sister direct. Lee now has access to 86K which his sister is happy to transfer to him whenever he wants it. He´s still reeling from his dad passing and this news coming four days ago has actually depressed him. (Shock if you like, not knowing what to do and the responsiblity of such a large sum of money). NOw, we have never dealt with anything like this but think we have a plan! We think Lee should buy his little flat from the council outright. That ensures a roof over his head in an area he loves, for life, as well as an excellent investment for him. What is concerning me, obviously he has to tell DWP about this . Clearly his benefits will have to be stopped, but does he keep his DLA? And if he buys the flat, and spends some money on making it perfect for his illness, would the DWP see this as squandering? A daft question perhaps, but who knows in this day and age. I realise he will be expected to live off his savings until they reduce to 8K when that happens, do the benefits get reinstated, or does he have to reapply and go through all that rigmarole again? And finally, and if I am asking advice on something illegal, apologies, I simply do not know, since this money has not been willed to Lee and is in his sisters name and in her possession, what would happen if she just paid for his flat, and then hung on to the rest for whatever comes his way in the future? Like, if she went on a huge family holiday and paid for lee out of that money, that sort of thing We just want to make sure that Lee is safe for the rest of his life (he is 40) in the best way we can. He is extremely vulnerable. Thanks for reading and we welcome any advice or pointers as what should be done.

I have a strange situation and would appreciate some help. my mum who is 81 and is in poor health wants to give me and my two sisters half of her rental properties. which means we will each get 1/6th of her income from these properties which is aprox £2000 per year. my problem is that i am currently on esa in the support group and my two sisters work full time. im currently unable to return to work as im am currently being treated for various things and recovering from a stroke. my question is this if this happens (abd my two sisters are pushing for it) will i loose my income related esa? i will have no say in selling the properties as they are refusing this as an option i wouldnt be able to get working tax credit because im not able to work and £2000 per year means i will be £3500 per year worse off. im not getting housing benefit could somebody give me some help. i have a meeting on monday with cab, and help with questions to ask would come in handy thanks in advance

I have an assured tenancy in a housing association flat. I first moved into the complex in January, 1994. Due to my disability stairs were a real problem, so in February 2001 I transferred down to this flat which is on the ground floor. If I came into some money would I have to leave my flat? The amount wouldn't be enough for me to buy my own place and I wouldn't get a mortgage as I am not working due to disability. This flat has been adapted for me and can be adapted further should I need to use a wheelchair in the future. I would stop my means tested benefits and would then be paying my own rent direct to the HA. I'd welcome any info/advice. Thanks

Hi Son has inheritance coming in 22 months when he's 25. Will says can ask for advance for education, benefit. Asked executor, they asked for proof so provided them with invoices for rent and deposit, items for accommodation and fees from Uni, also asked for rest of money to be placed in 2 year fixed account for when he's 25. A month later they reply and say as he has already paid then answer is no. Can they refuse especially when clause was put in will for allowance of advancement of inheritance? Any help greatly appreciated.

From 1 October, changes to the intestacy rules will mean spouses and civil partners will receive more if their partner dies without a will. The rules changes won't affect people who die with less than £250,000 in assets. The rules of intestacy set out who is entitled to inherit if a person dies without leaving a valid will. The main changes are: if a spouse or civil partner dies intestate and there are no surviving children, the remaining partner will inherit the whole estate if a spouse or civil partner dies intestate and there are surviving children, the remaining partner will inherit £250,000, all the personal property and half of the rest of the estate. The children then get the remaining half share on trust until they reach the age of 18. More about the intestacy rules http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/news/whats_new_sep14_inheritance__how_changes_to_the_intestacy_rules_may_affect_you.htm Inheritance law changes come into force http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29436533 Help yourself and charity each November Having your Will written professionally can give you great peace of mind. In November, you can use a local solicitor who has signed up to Will Aid and you can enjoy the added feel-good factor of supporting nine leading UK charities. Instead of paying your solicitor’s fee, you will be invited to make a donation to charity. The suggested voluntary donation is £95 for a basic Will or £150 for a pair of basic mirror Wills. The next campaign will be in November 2014 http://www.willaid.org.uk/will-makers

This is an excellent site full of knowledgeable people given what I now know about PIP following my first thread. Now my second and just as important. I'm not trying to get something for nothing, I just want to follow the rules and claim what the law allows me to benefit from. As I said before, I was 65 in June 2014, my wife is 71. We receive a mixture of income, AA (wife) DLA (me) private pensions (me) and each of us receives the SRP + we get a top up of Guaranteed Pension Credit of £69 a week and get help towards our mortgage (£101,000) with housing/interest payments of £70 a week. As I have said, the only means tested benefit is Guaranteed Pension Credit of £139 a week. The Guaranteed Pension credit was last reviewed following my 65th birthday in June 2014 and they have not set an Assessed Income Period owing to the fact that I told them that I may well get an inheritance within the next year. Well the inheritance has been confirmed by the Executor/solicitor and I am to receive approx. £140,000. We have an interest only mortgage and have to make a monthly top up over and above what the Pension people pay of £96 a month. The fixed rate deal finishes in 2017 then it goes onto the normal higher rate. The mortgage is due for repayment in 2020. Without going into any great depth, We have not been able to save any money to repay this mortgage (ill health retirement, loss of money in an investment) Our intention was to sell in 2017 when the payments will go up which we will not be able to afford, The equity will be no more that £8000 after paying the mortgage off and paying all of the legal fees etc. However, given that I am to get this inheritance, it will enable us to stay where we are and not have to rent. The only problem is that we need a ground floor bedroom due to my wife's disabilities. We have always had the intention to build a single storey extension to provide a double bedroom and a walk in shower room but it was a dream with not having any money. To settle the mortgage we will have to pay £101,000 + 6% (early settlement charge) + legal fees which come to about £108,000. The extension that we need that will make life so much easier will cost about £14,000. Our car needs to be replaced as it is on its last legs so looking round for a similar model but much younger - 12 months old we would need about £18,000. As we will need to keep our Pension Credit to continue to live off, does anybody see a problem in what we are thinking of doing? Does anybody have any alternative ideas?

Hi all, Thanks for looking at this, I hope someone can steer me in the right direction. Bit of a long story so please bear with me. I'm not sure which bits are relevant so thought it best to put as much detail as possible in. My parents purchased our family home in 1977 (a year after my birth). They were not married at the time but had a joint mortgage. In 1984 they got married but did not change my mother's name on the mortgage. Fast forward to 1997 when my mum died intestate. At this point my dad decided to pay off what was left of the mortgage (a minimal amount) and consequently the property's listing on land registry was updated to remove the interest of the mortgage company/bank/building society. For some reason he did not change the land registry entry to show him as sole owner. In 2003 my dad remarried. In 2006 he managed to remortgage the house with Kensington on an interest only deal for £50k. This mortgage was in his name only despite land registry listing my mother as joint owner. Fast forward again to 2009 when my father passed away, again intestate (they weren't good with paperwork!), making his new wife his next of kin and heir. Frankly I had never thought much of it and only really raised an eyebrow when the solicitor dealing with my dad's estate said something about having to get the land registry entry changed as it would complicate matters with my mother's name being on there. Somehow he managed to get the property moved into just my dad's name after his death! I have only really begun to think about this now as my grandfather (dad's dad) mentioned in passing that he was proud of the fact that I hadn't spent my money from my dad's house on flash cars and motorbikes. When I told him that was mainly because I had never had any money from it he was astounded. In his view, the reason my dad left the house in both names was so that I would inherit at least half (my mom's half). Now, this may have been my dad taking legal advice (unlikely), it may have been him deciding to interpret the law himself (very likely) and getting it right or wrong (I have no idea) or it may have simply been his way of stopping his parents nagging him to make a will (extremely likely). So simply, do I have any claim to my mother's half of the house as my father never legally took ownership of it by registering it with the land registry? If you've got this far, thank you very much! I look forward to any input. Cheers, Paul

Hi all, my mother died recently and left her house to my brother and I. He lives in the house. The estate is awaiting probate but the will was not specific regarding the house - it said that the house was to be left to both of us but my brother could live in it. Now probate are questioning whether mum had capacity but I am concerned about how we resolve the inheritance issue. I would like him to buy me out but he says he will not, nor will he sell or allow me to move in so I can rent my property out. He wants to live there for nothing. We are both executors. I don't want to fall out with him but do need the capital. Any ideas?

Hullo all I would appreciate any help and opinions you can give on the following: A lady friend of mine borrowed quite a lot of money (I believe in excess of £9000) in order to buy a car on behalf of her daughter. It was agreed between them that the daughter would repay by instalments and all went well until the daughter was discovered to have a terminal brain tumour. Sadly and inevitably she died leaving some £5,200 still to be paid to her mother. It then turned out that the daughter left the car in her will to her boyfriend. As there are no other assets in the estate my friend understandably wants the car to be sold in order to repay to her as much as possible (It is thought the car would get maybe £4K now). She has had a letter from the executor agreeing that she can have the car but the boyfriend has instructed a solicitor who has written insisting the car is legally the property of the boyfriend and demanding it be handed over. My friend currently has custody of the car in a secure place. I wonder if anybody can comment and in particular answer the following: 1. Am I right in believing the estate must settle creditors claims with whatever assets it has to hand, irrespective of individual bequests? 2. Is it the responsibility of the executor to ensure this happens? 3. Is my friend within her legal rights to now sell the car in order to recover what she can in light of the letter from the executor or is this strictly the responsibility of the executor? 4. Given the poor mental condition of the unfortunate daughter, can her will be challenged? I will get some wording of the various letters of the case put up here as soon as I can. Many thanks to all for reading and commenting.

Due to a recent death in the family, my wife and I will inherit the contents of the deceased's bank accounts once all the paperwork is sorted. The accounts are with a bank that I owe money to a subsidiary of (amongst several other debts), but we bank elsewhere for obvious reasons. Coincidentally(?) we've been contacted by the DCA associated with the bank asking us to call them, which we won't, and have asked them to write, which they haven't. Can the bank withhold the sum due to them from the payment they make to us, bearing in mind that there would be enough to cover the full balance owed? I need to apportion the funds to the other debts, not let them take all of their debt in its entirety. There's probably penalty charges on their debt as well which will need to be deducted from any balance they say I owe. The deceased's account was in their sole name so only when the transfer of funds is made to one of our accounts (mine or my wife's) will the funds be technically ours. OMWO

Hi, I had my house repossessed a while ago after my relationship ended. The mortgage was originally just in my partners name but we remortgaged and my ex partners wage was just a little short so they put me on the mortgage also, I only earned £4000 at the time. I never helped with the mortgage payment as my income was so low. When my relationship ended I moved out. Not long after this my ex stopped paying the mortgage and the house was repossessed. My ex has now told the bank he has no way of paying so I am paying £20 a month. I have recently come into money and am worried that it will all be eaten up by the debt, do I have to pay the shortfall with my inheritance. The probate is not in my name but I am named as a beneficiary. I have tried to offer a lump sum to the mortgage company but they turned it down. Thanks in advance.

Hello. I got dismissed from my job, due to my disability, in Aug 2012. After 36 years unbroken service, but that is a whole other story. I had my ATOS medical, that's yet another story, and I am now on WRAG ESA. In their wisdom they have placed me on both IB and CB. I don't understand why, there must be some kind of benefit (to them I imagine), if someone can tell me the answer to this I would be grateful. But my real question is this, it is looking as though I may be receiving some inheritance in the next few months. I don'y know how much this will be, but I think it will be between 50 and 100 thousand pounds. When I look at what I have just written it seems like one hell of a lot of money. I know this will effect my ESA and I understand that, what I was wondering is, are there some things that I am allowed to spend some of that money on. For example, can I pay my mortgage or any loans off without the DWP penalizing me? What about a car, my present car was quite second hand when I bought it. If I replaced it with a better one, would that be OK, or would I be penalized, somehow for that? What if the car I bought was a new one, what would be an acceptable amount to spend? How about a holiday? would that be OK? Looking back through all of this, it looks as though I am being very greedy. Wanting to spend all of the money so the DWP can't get there hands on it. I am sorry if I give that impression, what I really want to know is, I will never have this much money in my bank account again, so I would like to get some enjoyment out of it. But if my benefits will be stopped, because I have "savings", and I have spent the money on various things, i'll be stuffed. So I would rather know now if I am not allowed to spend any of it, and invest it all to provide some kind of income, before I do something I will regret in the future. I will appreciate any advice on this, things that I want to hear and things I don't'. Don't pull any punches, tell me what you think. many thanks, Mick.

My niece who has 2 teenagers under 18 inherited approximately £110,000 a few months ago on the death of her husband. It was in the form of an insurance policy and the condition was that the money should be used to purchase a home for her & the girls. I don't think any money went through her account or if it did, it went straight towards payment for their home. After the death of her husband, she was unemployed for several weeks and now has a job at a supermarket for 19 hours per week on minimum wages so earning about £130 per week. She has no savings and has applied for council tax benefit, but they do not want to give her the benefit stating that due to inheriting a large sum of money recently. Her council tax is approximately £200 per month. She has the heating switched off at the moment as the boiler has gone and BGAS are trying to sell her another one. I suspect that a local person will probably be able to fix the boiler within a hour or two but another thread for another day. She also has council tax arrears of £1700 and paying the bailiff £200 a month. Unfortunately she let the bailiff into her home, but that is another story and will be posted on another thread once I have further details. Although she inherited the money, it was on condition of buying a home, so can she be penalised for something over which she had no control? The insurance was set up many years ago before the husband was made aware that he had a terminal condition although I do suspect the will was probably altered within the last year or two. Does she have any grounds for claiming a council tax benefit?

Hi . My father sadly died in September 2011 and did not leave a will, his estate consisted of the family home where my mother still resides , and our grandparents former home which was inherited from my grandparents and jointly owned by my father and his sister and which has been rented out for the last 20 years. We (my mother , and 2 sisters) had to apply for a grant of letters of administration and signed the estate over to my mother and presumed my mother would have owned my fathers half share of my grandparents home . However , when looking through my fathers documents we have found the will of my grandfather which states on my fathers death his half of the property passes down to his children - which is myself, and 2 sisters. The question I need answering is - now that we have signed my fathers estate over to my mum is my grandfathers will now null and void. or do/ can we still inherit his share of the property ? Hope this makes sense. thank you