Will Beneficiary with mental illness

[camberwell68]

My father died in July and left both myself and my brother the sum of £10,000 each. My mother is executor of the will and she is concerned regarding my brother, who has schizophrenia and has suffered a spell of imprisonment and a section which led to him spending time in a mental hospital. The will pre-dates these incidents. She is concerned that the £10,000 inheritance may affect my brother's benefits and possibly his tenure of a housing association flat. His money-management skills are appalling and he is likely to blow the money on gambling.
Would my mother, as executor, be able to pay the money to my brother in installments over a period of time, rather than in one lump sum? How does inheritance affect benefits?
Thank you.

[Sam101]

Sorry for your loss and the difficulties you have. This is a complex matter, but the executor has to follow the rules of the Will and how it is worded regarding instructions from your Father. If a Will gifted something into a Trust, then the Trustees could act according to the terms of the Trust, but this does not seem to be the case here unless a Trust is mentioned in the Will?.

Often a Will can be changed by Deed of Variation, but only with the agreement of any beneficiary that may be affected. In your case, your brother may not agree to any changes, but I can see why this would be beneficial.

It would be best to seek the advice of a solicitor and often solicitors will hold an initial meeting without charge, so see if you can arrange this. Ideally the solicitors who prepared the Will may be more helpful.

In addition, with the difficulties of your brother, you Mother should think how this may affect her own Will when she passes, where a suitable Trust for your brother's eventual inheritance could be beneficial. Again the solicitors can advise in more detail.

[twohoots]

I believe you can have up to £16,000 in savings before it affects your brother’s benefits but please double check this. is anybody your brother’s Power of Attorney? Who helps him with his benefit claims etc?

I would suggest contacting Mencap online or Carers UK for further advice. They both have advisors on things like this.