Hi All. I have a financial Lasting Power of Attorney for my son who has cerebral palsy. He has just inherited money from my father that puts him a little over the £23,250 limit, so when I inform the Authorities I believe he will lose his ESA and council tax exemption and have to pay the full costs of his care.
My question is, what are the rules about spending his inheritance so that we are not accused of deprivation of capital and treated as if he still had the spent money?
Do we have to justify every purchase? His computer is broken. Do we have to justify getting one computer rather than another cheaper computer or explain why we didn't try to get the old one fixed? He's had the same tiny TV for about 10 years, but it still works. Can he buy a new bigger TV?
Where can I go to find out how to proceed?
If I inherited some money I might splash out on something I'd hankered after but couldn't in normal circumstances afford. If I was on benefits, I would lose them and have to spend my inheritance on basic living expenses until they were gone?
Any help is much appreciated. My son is fortunate to have been given money. But I'm pretty sure my father wanted to do something for my son, not for the state.
Written by
Annonymouse
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
hi Annonymouse im not a carer i am learning disabled and autistic myself but i am so sorry to be answering you with no help on this subject...
the reason i wanted to answer you is actually about your sons computer, i am pretty good with computers and might be able to give you ideas on what is wrong if you arent sure yourself.
on the best side it might possibly be... just hidden viruses,RATs (remote admin tools), keyloggers or even better-you need some new parts.
for example is there anything like,starting up with a black screen and no loading? a black screen with any codes written on it? blue screen with errors? smashed screen? the screen looking odd,any beeping noises upon starting up? any soft clicking noises? have you done virus scans whilst the computer is in safe mode with the internet turned off? (by doing it through safe mode with no internet, it stops any possible hackers or viruses from disabling your anti virus you have or from re writing rubbish code into the registry).etc theres a lot of possible examples,im fixing my dads laptop for him at the moment,but with his i think his hard drive is about to die.
Hi. Thank you for the kind advice. The CD drive won't read his game or music disks. I called the supplier, but they no longer have replacements. The laptop is about seven years old. Computer games are a big part of my son's life. It's probebly time for an upgrade anyway.
its probably the laser thats gone in the dvd drive,they go so easily.
most laptops now if not all are being sold without a DVD drive as things are being switched to cloud, and services like steam and itunes.
im a huge gaming fan to-laptops do have quite a short life limit as gaming really heats up and pushes the parts to the limit,i bought my asus tuf 20 gaming laptop im on now-in april this year i think, and its already out of date with higher end gaming-if i try and run a game like FORZA horizon 4 for example i get a warning before it starts that im insulting the game by using this laptop lol,but it runs kind of well.
when you start looking for a new computer (especialy thinking of gaming for the next 2 years)-
#you need to be looking for a quad core (or higher) processor that has a speed around 3.5GHz,i use a AMD ryzen 7 4200 processor as its got 8 cores.
#you can also speak to a local tech person who coud carefully overclock the processor for you (im getting someone to do it for me at christmas),a lot of gamers do this to meet the silly standards of todays big games.
#an nvidia GTX graphics card that has a lot of dedicated memory (itd need around 6GB) is probably the best for playing current games and a lot of next gen games.
#32GB of gaming RAM if possible,this will future proof the laptop for a while-if you look at a lot of games on steam now their minimum spec needed is 16GB,i have noticed a couple that say 32GB already.
im sorry for recking your post, but if you ever have any computer questions please feel welcome to message me!
Hi again and thank you for giving such good advice.
A laptop was a good choice when he was at residential college and we could easily pack up and bring home on weekends. Now he has his own place the need for a laptop is not so great, so we thought we might go for a desktop as you seem to get the same power for less money, or a more powerful machine for the same money. But your specs are useful to know either way.
Hi there. My advice would be to see a solicitor who specialises in wills and trusts as soon as possible. They may offer a free initial consultation. It will likely be incredibly hard for you to persuade your LA that you are not trying to get round deprivation of capital rules, even with receipts. I have no law experience but it might be possible that you can immediately move the money into a discretionary trust where it will be safe from means testing or, possibly the solicitor might be able to arrange a variation to your father’s will if probate hasn’t been granted, that leaves the money to a trust for the use of your son. It might be too late for either measure but they will be able to advise you. I hope you find a solution because, as you say, it is so unfair.
Hi. It's too late to stop the money hitting his bank account. I looked at refusing the inheritance, but I believe even that would be classed as deprivation of capital. My understanding is that it's his money and there is nothing I can do to legally hide it.
I want to understand what I can legally do. I'll try calling Mencap and Citizan's Advice.
Speedy Hen is quite right, you definitely need legal advice as soon as possible. It is possible to vary a will but i think there is little time to do it in. The threshold for ESA is lower and starts being reduced when savings are above £16,000. I think you will need a solicitor who understands about benefits.
Hi. Yes, the £23,250 is the limit above which the local authority will no longer contribute a bean to his care (I believe). Below £14,250 they will pay the full costs of care. As you say, I must get legal advice. Thank you for helping.
I used to work in the probate department of a solicitor and I believe it is possible to vary the terms of a Will if the beneficiaries agree so you may be able to put your sons inheritance into a Discretionary Trust. You will need to have other beneficiaries of the trust but can do a letter of wishes that the main beneficiary is to be your son. The money will not then “belong” to your son but will be held in trust and then the Trustees can give money for specific items like a holiday or a computer which won’t affect benefits, I think there may be a time limit on varying the terms of a will. Ask a solicitor for advice, There will be a charge and discretionary trusts attract a higher rate of tax but it will be cheaper than having to pay for all care.
It's too late. The money has now hit his bank. I've been told he will lose his ESA benefit, his housing allowance and have to pay the full cost of his care. Any money he spends will be scrutinised for potential breach of deprivation of capital rules. When the state has taken sufficient of his inheritance that it becomes permitted, we will have to help him apply for Universal Credit.
Some years ago my father told me he intended to leave money to my son. I explained that this would affect his benefits and suggested he instead leave it to a trust for my son. My father later told me this was too complicated and he wanted to keep it simple, so he told me he intended to leave me the money and he gave me a letter of wishes telling me how he wanted the money to be spent so as to benefit my son. My father was rather confused and forgetful in his last years and it seems he subsequently created a new Will, this time leaving money directly to my son. Full circle. He did not discuss this with me. I think he would have been "advised" by someone, but I don't know who. My father wanted to do something to help my son. Had he understood what he was doing I don't believe he would have done what he did.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Learning disability care home visiting, rules and regulations.
DRE Financial assessment
looking for relationships 
Employment for people who have learning disabilities 
Considering supported living for my 27 year old son 
