Need some advice about forthcoming inheritance and DWP

[AdamManc88]

Hi guys, my mind is running overtime so I'll try to keep it brief and to the point. I spent an hour earlier trying to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau for my area and it just rang and rang and I gave up. 

My situation is as follows...

I've been living at home with my parents (lost Mum in October) for the past 10 years since my health issues began as I was not in a position to live alone physically,  mentally or financially.

One day it will inevitably be me here alone as my dad is 80 years old and while currently healthy we lost Mum very suddenly last year at 75.

This is obviously going to turn my world upside down as I'll be grieving, alone and no doubt under pressure from the bank to sell the house (around 50k) still owed to the bank. I have literally zero idea of how I'd go about selling a home, cancelling utilities, tv contracts etc. I've no idea where I'll live or how quick the whole process takes to sell a house. I'm fairly certain this is enough to put me in a bad place again. In my current situation I can afford to run the house, normal bills and food etc as I am in receipt of ESA(IB)SG w/SDP & PIP Higher Daily Living and Lower Mobility.

The remaining money from the sale will be split four ways between the four sons. This is a massive worry in itself as that inheritance money is initially going to cause me more harm than good as it will comfortably take me over the 16k upper saving limit and with living alone (no partner) I'll burn through that just trying to survive. The inheritance would no doubt be better putting towards a place of my own, but as I'm long term sick I would never get a mortgage even with putting 50k (roughly) down from my share of the house sale. Renting somewhere is obviously so much more expensive and with the cost of living on energy/food/bills and receiving no benefits because I'm over the savings limit

What would you suggest I do to prepare for this inevitability? It's got my really worrying the last few weeks and was finally going to face it head on today with Citizens Advice but as I say, it just rang out. 

Hoping somebody can help or give some direction. 

(Is there a way I could keep my benefits as they were and put any inheritance straight in to a small property for myself or will DWP look at that as excessive spending? Even then, how would I get a bank to give me a mortgage, albeit a smaller one, if I'm on benefits??

Hope I've given enough detail and apologies for typos. If you need to know anymore about my situation then please just ask as I appreciate all input)

Thanks guys
 

[unclebulgaria67]

The inheritance only affects the income based ESA, when you actually receive the proceeds of the sale of the house.  The PIP  claim would not be affected.

 

You need to be aware that after a person has died,  it can take many months, before it is possible for the house that is left to be sold.  So you would have the time to start looking at housing and benefit issues.  The Bank would not put pressure on the House to be sold, as they normally allow time for mortgage holders family to deal with all of the issues that they need to resolve. e.g.. resolving any legal processes, putting the house on the market for sale.

 

If you did receive £50k into your Bank, if you had a house purchase application going through where most of the money ( more than £34k) was going towards the purchase, then you could declare it to ESA, but ask for an ESA Decision Maker to ignore the savings including the inheritance, on the basis the money was to buy a house to live in.

 

Your best option may be to look at shared ownership, where you buy a percentage of a property

/assets/static/govuk-opengraph-image-dade2dad5775023b0568381c4c074b86318194edb36d3d68df721eea7deeac4b.png

Shared ownership homes: buying, improving and selling: How shared ownership works - GOV.UK

WWW.GOV.UK

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Check if you're eligible for the shared ownership scheme and how to apply. Read about costs, paying rent, buying more shares and repairing and selling your home.

 

I can see why you might be worried, but your Dad may be around into his 90's.  And in more than 10 years time, your own situation may have changed.  If your Dad needed to go into a care home, then the care home fees due ( probably £50k plus a year) may mean that your Brothers and yourself may not inherit as much as is currently imagined.