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ESA and inheritance
- cbrad
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6 years 9 months ago #192316 by cbrad
ESA and inheritance was created by cbrad
I currently get income based and contribution based ESA with support for mortgage interest, I get dla too.
Following the death of my mum recently I will receive about £40k inheritance when all her affairs are sorted out.
I would like to pay off my mortgage and credit card debts and if I do this I will be left with about £5k which will be under the £16k limit.
My question is am I allowed to spend my inheritance in this way and keep getting ESA or will the dwp state I have still got the inheritance under deprivation rules and cancel my ESA. I don't want to ring dwp as I don't trust the call centre people to advise me correctly.
I have searched about this but keep getting different opinions, so any help or advice to point me in the right direction would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Following the death of my mum recently I will receive about £40k inheritance when all her affairs are sorted out.
I would like to pay off my mortgage and credit card debts and if I do this I will be left with about £5k which will be under the £16k limit.
My question is am I allowed to spend my inheritance in this way and keep getting ESA or will the dwp state I have still got the inheritance under deprivation rules and cancel my ESA. I don't want to ring dwp as I don't trust the call centre people to advise me correctly.
I have searched about this but keep getting different opinions, so any help or advice to point me in the right direction would be much appreciated. Thank you.
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- Gordon
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6 years 9 months ago #192342 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic ESA and inheritance
cbrad
I'm sorry but I cannot give you a definitive answer, in these situations it is at the discretion of the DM as to how they view the expenditure.
As a general comment the DWP see no reason why a long term loan should be paid early, so I think you may have problems with paying of your mortgage, an argument you might want to have a look at is the amount of SMI you would pay until the mortgage was cleared naturally, once your savings went back below £16k versus the benefit that would not be paid while your savings are above the £16k (I hope that makes sense)/
It's usually not a problem paying off short term debt such as credit cards.
I have to recommend that you get face to face advice before making any decisions, do an internet search for "welfare advice" with your postcode, town or county.
Gordon
I'm sorry but I cannot give you a definitive answer, in these situations it is at the discretion of the DM as to how they view the expenditure.
As a general comment the DWP see no reason why a long term loan should be paid early, so I think you may have problems with paying of your mortgage, an argument you might want to have a look at is the amount of SMI you would pay until the mortgage was cleared naturally, once your savings went back below £16k versus the benefit that would not be paid while your savings are above the £16k (I hope that makes sense)/
It's usually not a problem paying off short term debt such as credit cards.
I have to recommend that you get face to face advice before making any decisions, do an internet search for "welfare advice" with your postcode, town or county.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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- cbrad
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6 years 9 months ago #192375 by cbrad
Replied by cbrad on topic ESA and inheritance
Thank you for your quick reply Gordon.
I only get a small amount of smi towards my mortgage and in total I would get about £4500 over the remaining term of my mortgage which is five and a half years. I have to pay 100.00 a week towards my mortgage as it is myself.
Can I just cancel my income related part of ESA when I get my inheritance and carry on getting the contribution part of my ESA which would originally been incapacity benefit or does the capital limit apply to that as well.
It seems I am in a catch 22 position but would still like to clear my mortgage to give me security of having somewhere to live.
My support worker is going to find out about welfare advice for me and I will decide what to do when I have all the advice I can get but it will be some months before I get the inheritance.
Thank you again.
I only get a small amount of smi towards my mortgage and in total I would get about £4500 over the remaining term of my mortgage which is five and a half years. I have to pay 100.00 a week towards my mortgage as it is myself.
Can I just cancel my income related part of ESA when I get my inheritance and carry on getting the contribution part of my ESA which would originally been incapacity benefit or does the capital limit apply to that as well.
It seems I am in a catch 22 position but would still like to clear my mortgage to give me security of having somewhere to live.
My support worker is going to find out about welfare advice for me and I will decide what to do when I have all the advice I can get but it will be some months before I get the inheritance.
Thank you again.
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- Gordon
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6 years 9 months ago #192391 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic ESA and inheritance
cbrad
ESA is a single benefit with two payment methods, I'm afraid I don't think you can pick and choose which elements you receive, now that both are in payment. Obviously, once you savings and assets exceed £16,000 your ESA(IB) payments will cease, the issue will be how long it is before they become payable again.
Your ESA(CB) will remain in payment.
Be aware, once your ESA(IR) is out of payment you will also lose access to free prescriptions, dental care, etc.
Gordon
ESA is a single benefit with two payment methods, I'm afraid I don't think you can pick and choose which elements you receive, now that both are in payment. Obviously, once you savings and assets exceed £16,000 your ESA(IB) payments will cease, the issue will be how long it is before they become payable again.
Your ESA(CB) will remain in payment.
Be aware, once your ESA(IR) is out of payment you will also lose access to free prescriptions, dental care, etc.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
The following user(s) said Thank You: cbrad
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