Refusing an inheritance

[Shelley1960]

Intestate estate leaving a potential 'money pot' of approx £200,000 to be divided by 4 children.
Siblings 1& 2 want to give their share to sibling 4, sibling 3 is on means tested benefits so unable to refuse without falling foul of DWP deprivation of assets rulings
I read that although a person can refuse an inheritance they cannot dictate where it goes so their share wd stay in the pot to be divided by the remaining beneficiaries meaning siblings 3 & 4 share would increase to £100,00 each. Can anyone confirm this?
Would it be different if the main asset a house didn't get sold but given to sibling 4 who would pay sibling 3 for their 1/4 share?.
Ultimately I want to make sure that sibling 3 isn't affected by other siblings giving away their shares.
(This is an addition/update to a previous post)

[dslippy]

Sorry, but you are getting it wrong.
If sibling 3 does anything other than accept the inheritance as entitled, he will be subject to deprivation of assets rules.
The administrator cannot divide 1 share among the others without signed authority, followed closely by a DWP inspector.
The thing to understand is that all sort of bright spark ideas have been tried on and have failed. Some succeed but only because the DWP cannot be bothered to enforce.
Sibling 3 is not affected by what other people do.

[efpom]

dslippy Is right, but it gets worse.

If you go down the route of inventing some method whereby sister 3 takes the benefit of the inheritance but does not declare that change of circumstance to the DWP, the DWP might well take the position that the administrator of the estate has entered into a conspiracy with sister 3 - the benefits claimant, to carry out a fraud on the Crown, which is a "corporation sole" i.e. a legal person.

In that context, you might want to read the Fraud Act
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/section/4

[Shelley1960]

Apologies if I've not explained properly

Sibling 3 is in contact with DWP but is unsure if a rejected inheritance by another sibling affects their own share with an increase, so doesn't want to agree to anything that may affect them by refusing a potential increase

I've read if a person refuses their inheritance they cannot decide where the inheritence goes it has to remain in the 'pot' to be split between remaining beneficiaries.

if siblings 1&2 refuse their inheritance & want to give it to sibling 4 whether money or property can this be done without any DWP ramifications for sibling 3

Thank you

[dslippy]

Ss 1 & 2 do not 'refuse' the inheritance. They can enter into a deed of variation so that s4 gets their shares. That need not involve or prejudice s3.
They can also just receive their shares and then give those sums received to s4.

[Wylderose]

Intestate estate leaving a potential 'money pot' of approx £200,000 to be divided by 4 children.
Siblings 1& 2 want to give their share to sibling 4, sibling 3 is on means tested benefits so unable to refuse without falling foul of DWP deprivation of assets rulings

If I read this correctly the monetary value of the estate without the house is £200K which is to be divided equally between 4 children. This would equal £50K per person which for Sibling 3 means that they would be well over the capital limit for benefits which are means tested.

If sibling 3 is aware that accepting the inheritance would remove his/her entitlement to benefit, then likewise they would also be aware that refusal of the inheritance would increase their benefit. So Catch 22. Take the inheritance and pay his/her own rent or refuse the inheritance and fall foul of the deliberate deprivation rulings. Under the deliberate deprivation of capital ruling he/she would be treated as being in possession of the inheritance even if they did not benefit from the inheritance because to refuse it would be to deprive themselves of capital for the purposes of gaining benefit.