Inheritance questions

[Rich44]

Girlfriends nan has sadly just passed away after reading the will her house is to be sold to fund the funeral + legal bills and provide and inheritance to her children (gf's mum)

 

There are 3 surviving children (her mum + 2 aunts) plus another share for my girlfriends already deceased uncle which will go to his children so a total of split 4 ways.

 

The house is going on the market for around £110,000 so im going on the conservative figure as an estimated of £80,000 left to divide up after buyers haggling and legal fees etc so each relative would get £20k each.

 

Now one of her aunts lives in the house as she was the nans full time carer up to the end and has nowhere to go, however if she receives this inheritence would she still be entitled to register on the council housing list and receive priority as she has bad depression and other mental health issues and currently on a handful of tablets, she is also up to her eyeballs in debt (which I am attempting to help sort out for her as I believe much of it is illegal charges, excessive interest etc).

 

The second question is that my partners mum is disabled, has a blue badge, full mobility allowance and all the other benefits such as council tax benefit, housing benefit etc. Now I presume should she inherit this money she would have all her benefits stopped as its well over the £6000 savings figure?

 

She doesnt have a bank account as she was cleared from bankruptcy last year so wants to pay it into a spare savings account of my partners (starting to get messy isnt it?) I presume if she then fails to declare it then she's up for benefit fraud even if she gives the money to my partner.

 

Please dont get me wrong i'm not attempting to break the law etc I just want to clarify things. The reason is her carer who lives with her turns 70 this year and if at any point she loses her driving licence I will have to drive them around and if they take another std 5 seater car it will cause us massive problems as we have a baby and there wont be enough room for us to all fit in to go out. So we were planning on stashing the cash to pay for the advance deposits required to get a large vehicle like a Ford Galaxy or Kia Sedona every 3 years as they could never hope to save up £3000 each time, also she needs to buy an electric scooter and new wheelchair as the NHS/Social wont provide her with one

 

So basically she cant afford to live if they cut off her benefits and needs to save the money really for transport costs so whats the best thing to do and what is the aunt who is about to be made homeless do?

 

Sorry for the long post its a bit long winded

[JonCris]

Girlfriends nan has sadly just passed away after reading the will her house is to be sold to fund the funeral + legal bills and provide and inheritance to her children (gf's mum)

 

There are 3 surviving children (her mum + 2 aunts) plus another share for my girlfriends already deceased uncle which will go to his children so a total of split 4 ways.

 

The house is going on the market for around £110,000 so im going on the conservative figure as an estimated of £80,000 left to divide up after buyers haggling and legal fees etc so each relative would get £20k each. £30K! difference....thats a lot........Assuming the house is the only real asset the value is well within the Inheritance tax threshold

 

Now one of her aunts lives in the house as she was the nans full time carer up to the end and has nowhere to go, however if she receives this inheritence would she still be entitled to register on the council housing list and receive priority as she has bad depression and other mental health issues and currently on a handful of tablets, she is also up to her eyeballs in debt (which I am attempting to help sort out for her as I believe much of it is illegal charges, excessive interest etc). You will have to give her formal notice to quit & at the same time you will have to help her find alternative acommodation.........alternatively as a beneficiary she could remortgage the house via equity release pay the bills & the remaining beneficiaries or the benficiaries could agree to remortgae then she could forego her legacy in exchange for living their rent free............meaning a larger sum would go to the benficairies...........If you go with the latter you MUST ensure that she obtains independant legal advice.....or she could pay rent as per housing benefit which could go into a trust to benefit for the benefit of the family

The second question is that my partners mum is disabled, has a blue badge, full mobility allowance and all the other benefits such as council tax benefit, housing benefit etc. Now I presume should she inherit this money she would have all her benefits stopped as its well over the £6000 savings figure? Not if she has the money paid into a trust (whoever is handling the probate can arrange it) & only purchases capital goods.........She WILL lose benefits if she uses any of the money to meet day to day expenses

 

She doesnt have a bank account as she was cleared from bankruptcy last year so wants to pay it into a spare savings account of my partners (starting to get messy isnt it?) I presume if she then fails to declare it then she's up for benefit fraud even if she gives the money to my partner. See above........If she pays into another persons account she would lose her benefits

 

Please dont get me wrong i'm not attempting to break the law etc I just want to clarify things. The reason is her carer who lives with her turns 70 this year and if at any point she loses her driving licence I will have to drive them around and if they take another std 5 seater car it will cause us massive problems as we have a baby and there wont be enough room for us to all fit in to go out. So we were planning on stashing the cash to pay for the advance deposits required to get a large vehicle like a Ford Galaxy or Kia Sedona every 3 years as they could never hope to save up £3000 each time, also she needs to buy an electric scooter and new wheelchair as the NHS/Social wont provide her with one As I have said she can purchase capital goods (such as transport, wheelchair, white goods etc) without losing her benefits

 

So basically she cant afford to live if they cut off her benefits and needs to save the money really for transport costs so whats the best thing to do and what is the aunt who is about to be made homeless do?

 

Sorry for the long post its a bit long winded

Hope that helps but if you have anymore questions let us know

Almost forgot she will have to be the owner at the time of remortgage whcih should be possible all on the same day

[Rich44]

Thanks for your reply really really helpful.

 

I was allowing that much as there was no insurance and no value anywhere else in the estate so the funeral home is yet to be paid £2500 at the moment and £70 per month in interest legal fees as solicitors are executors as far as I am aware and 10k potentially if someone haggles over the price of the house and of course estate agent fees I was probably over generous with all of that but 100k divides nicely into 4 for the sake of argument.

 

The house is the only asset of any worth sadly everything else is sentimental value only photos, old furniture etc.

 

There is a clause in the will saying the daughter can live in the house rent free for one year but not sure whether this can stand as the house is the only asset and everyone needs paying.

 

There is the potential for needing a sellers pack if the house is not sold by June as well I believe which could be another up front payment of between £350-800

 

As the house is the only asset as far as I can see the estate will be nowhere near the inheritance tax threshold of £285,000 so at least UK plc wont get their grubby hands on much of it

[JonCris]

Thanks for your reply really really helpful.

 

I was allowing that much as there was no insurance and no value anywhere else in the estate so the funeral home is yet to be paid £2500 at the moment and £70 per month in interest who is charging this! legal fees as solicitors are executors as far as I am aware (they must tell you at the outset their fees & give you an indication of what their final bill might be) and 10k potentially if someone haggles over the price of the house and of course estate agent fees I was probably over generous with all of that but 100k divides nicely into 4 for the sake of argument.

 

The house is the only asset of any worth sadly everything else is sentimental value only photos, old furniture etc.

 

There is a clause in the will saying the daughter is the daughter the carer can live in the house rent free for one year but not sure whether this can stand as the house is the only asset and everyone needs paying. Wouldn't that also apply to the present occupant. Also be warned if the present occupant can claim support by the deceased (which could include having a home provided) then they could stop any sale

 

There is the potential for needing a sellers pack if the house is not sold by June as well I believe which could be another up front payment of between £350-800

 

As the house is the only asset as far as I can see the estate will be nowhere near the inheritance tax threshold of £285,000 so at least UK plc wont get their grubby hands on much of it

 

Not that matters but the threshold rises to £300K in April..Hope that helps

[Rich44]

The funeral home as there is no money to pay them till the house is sold this was clarified before being accepted as there was no other choice sadly.

 

The daughter was the occupant caring for her mother (the deceased) so there shouldnt be any other complications from tenants or other occupants

[JonCris]

£70 per month! That is disgraceful & extremely unusual according to my better half who practices in probate. Undertakers set their prices to allow for such delay's in payment.

 

It may take months to obtain probate then you have to sell the property which could add further months.

 

I suspect it is unlawful & can & should be challenged by the executors as unfair under the UCCT

[Rich44]

Yeah I know but try dealing with these things when other people are dealing with them and they know best.

 

My partner put a tribute website together for her nan and the relative that put the obituary in the paper couldnt be bothered to put the very short url in leaving us absolutely fuming over it but there you go, families huh?

 

I will take it all up with my partners mum and see how they want to proceed about it all I think £70 is very harsh too pretty much par for the course to a credit card dontcha think?

[JonCris]

Everyone & I mean everyone assumes as there may be few assets that thing will be simple & straight forward...........but where families are concerned they never are....................my other half spends much of the day trying to act as peacemaker between feuding relatives.

[Rich44]

at least in this case the feuding has stopped and everyone is ok at the moment and apart from their share no one seems interested in anything else luckily