Inheritance and Disability Allowance

[Markove]

Hello. Would the inheritance of money from a deceased parents estate be assessed as means and affect the amount a claimant can be paid if currently in receipt of Disability Allowance?

 

[gipimann]

It will be assessed, but there is an amount disregarded.

The first €50.000 is disregarded for Disability Allowance, the remainder is assessed as follows:
First €10,000 @ €1 per €1,000
Next €10,000 @ €2 per €1,000
Balance @ €4 per €1,000

The calculated amount is the means per week.

For example, savings of €100,000 would be assessed as follows:
€50,000 disregarded
€10,000 = means of €10
€10,000 = means of €20
€30,000 = means of €120

Total weekly means assessed is €150 per week.

 

[Markove]

Thank you. In addition, if the Dept. has not been made aware of the change in circumstances until eighteen months after the event would the claimant be penalised financially as well as having to pay arrears on money received during that period?

 

[gipimann]

The Department don't impose penalties like Revenue, but they do have the option of taking a court case which might result in a fine. The claimant should contact the Department and provide updated information to regularise their position.

 

[lughildanach]

It is not the inheritance as such that is assessed, it is the amount of capital that you have at any particular given time. If you inherited 100k and immediately spent 50k (eg. on paying off mortgage), then only 50k would be assessable.

When looking at cases in which capital has not been previously disclosed, they look at various sample dates over the time period (typically when there has been a significant change in the capital, or at the start of each calendar year), and calculate what your entitlement to payment would have been. If you have been overpaid, they will ask to be repaid (this can be deducted from social welfare payments over long period of time). They can prosecute, but are less likely to do so if you approach them rather than them finding this out themselves.

Do also check to make sure whether you might have an entitlement to some other social welfare payment that is not means tested, eg Illness Benefit or Invalidity Pension. If there is no means test, the inheritance will only affect any payment that you receive for any dependents. Also, if you do have a spouse/partner who is on a social welfare payment themselves, your inheritance could affect their payment.