Hypethetical Question

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Larsson09

Hi Guys,

I have a “acquaintance” that inherited around 200k nearly three years ago.

Naturally they came off benefits at the time. They’ve now pretty much spent it and are assuming they can claim benefits.

I’ve said that there must be questions to answer but I may be wrong, these are both over retirement age so I’ve said I’ll ask the question for them. They’re definitely under the 16k bracket anyway and I’m not sure they’ve spent it sensibly however I’m no one’s judge.

Thanks in advance

poppy123456

When you say over retirement age if you mean they are both state pension age? They can look at claiming Pension Credit but whether there's any entitlement to this will depend on their joint circumstances. There's a pension credit calculator they can check here. https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator

For pension credit, there's no upper capital limit. It's £10,000 and for every £500 or part thereof there's a £1/week deduction in pension credit.

If they rent their home there's housing benefit from their local Authority. There's also council tax reduction. Will they check bank statements? Yes, possibly but I can't say for certain.