Inheritence questions

[Torellian]

What is the name of your state?WI
Question 1: If an individual was receiving public assistance such as welfare, SSI, etc. and his father died, how much can the individual (the son) receive in inheritance without having to repay public assistance because he had received a "windfall" amount?

Question 2: When a person dies and has 2 adult sons, does it HAVE to go to probate and involve lawyers, etc. Or can the 2 sons just divide everything between themselves equally. This is assuming the deceased has no outstanding debts. And also, what if he has no will? Does it matter? I've heard the laws of the state override wills.

 

[Dandy Don]

His receiving of the inheritance doesn't affect his benefit eligibility status at all as far as having to repay. The social service agencies may or may not find out about it, but if he was eligible to receive the benefits he doesn't have to pay anything back. It is up to him whether or not he wants to inform them about the inheritance so that they can take him off if necessary.

How much was the inheritance?

If there is no surviving spouse, then the sons will get everything. And yes, they do have to go through probate, depending on the value of the estate. Call the county probate courthouse to find out what the minimum amount of estate value must be before probate is required. Laws of the state do not necessarily override wills--the will takes precedence if it is written in accordance with state law. What was probably meant in the statement to you that if there is no will, then state law takes over as far as providing the guidelines as to how an estate is divided.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[Torellian]

Dandy Don,
Thank you for your reply!
You asked how much the inheritance was. I don't know. Actually, my question was a theoretical one that my dad had asked me to research. He's 64 years old and I'm the one who's receiving SSI payments. I guess he was concerned about how he could leave me his estate without SSI counting it as a windfall amount and making me repay everything I had received in benefits.
The "windfall" part of the question comes from a case where an individual in my state was on welfare and had won a large amount of money in a lottery and was told he had to repay welfare all that he had received from them. Don't know if he still ended up having to do it or not.

 

[divgradcurl]

Your question is not 100% clear. Who is getting SSI? Who is going to be doing the dying? Who is going to receive the inheritance?

He's 64 years old and I'm the one who's receiving SSI payments. I guess he was concerned about how he could leave me his estate without SSI counting it as a windfall amount and making me repay everything I had received in benefits.

Who is who? -- it's not clear in this question.

Question 1: If an individual was receiving public assistance such as welfare, SSI, etc. and his father died, how much can the individual (the son) receive in inheritance without having to repay public assistance because he had received a "windfall" amount?

If the individual receiving SSI was eligible when he received it, then no repayment is necessary. However, if the individual CONTINUES to receive SSI AFTER he or she is no longer eligible (because of a large inheritance, for example) THEN he or she may need to repay what they received from SSI after they are no longer eligible.

It is up to him whether or not he wants to inform them about the inheritance so that they can take him off if necessary.

That's good advice, if you want to end up in trouble down the road.

There are ways to structure estates so as to avoid losing SSI benefits -- but it is something that needs to be worked out with the help of a trust and estate attorney in order to avoid legal ramifications down the road.

 

[Torellian]

Divgradcurl,
To answer your questions, I am the one on SSI, my dad (who is 64) would be the one who would be deceased (hopefully, not very soon!), and I, along with my one brother would be the ones receiving the estate.
To help clarify things, SSI says an individual cannot have any more than $2,000 in savings. The estate would be in the tens of thousands, by my educated guess. My dad didn't disclose any specific amounts

 

[divgradcurl]

Okay, that clears things up. If your dad should die without a will, the inheritance amount you get -- if it is in the "tens of thousands" would be sufficient to make you ineligible for SSI -- and, if you continued to take SSI, you could be liable to repay it down the line.

There are methods by which you can still benefit from an inheritance AND maintain your SSI status, but you'll need to talk your dad into going and seeing a lawyer who specializes in estate planning to set up a support trust