Forum Home → Discussion → Income support, JSA and tax credits → Thread
life insurance payout to widow, payment into trust fund: disregard and deprivation questions
Husband has died and widow has just received £100,000 life insurance. Being advised by lawyers to transfer to trustees of a trust for her benefit on basis, as they say, it wont be treated as hers, enabling her to claim means tested benefit. I am warning re deprivation of capital rules.
Seems to me in any event IS Regs Sched 10 para 12/12A disregard of PI monies for 52 weeks and if put into trust fund can’t apply because the personal injury must be to the clt or the clt’s partner (ie not former partner)
If this is right seems we face deprivation issues unless we can argue that IS Regs 51 notional capital rules don’t apply because the capital is disregarded being “derived from a payment made in consequence of any personal injury and is placed on trust for the benefit of the claimant”. Question is whether life insurance payout due to death of husband is a “payment made in consequence of any personal injury” ( the Reg doesn’t state who must suffer the PI ).
Does anyone have any experience of or thoughts on this?
There are additional issues ie a severely disabled son for whom a trust is to be established out of the insurance monies (and on that it is easier to argue no deprivatio, although no guarantees). I think the lawyers are trust lawyers who normally just deal with PI trusts, Will trusts for disabled youngsters, or trusts where the settlor is not also a beneficiary potentially on benefit. However this is additional detail and irrelevant to the question on which I have been asked specifically to advise!!
I don’t know whether “personal injury” is defined in the Regs. If it is not, & is to be given its normal everyday meaning, I would think it cannot apply to someone’s death - unless that death was clearly the result of a personal injury. So if death resulted from injuries in a car crash OK, but if from an illness such as heart attack, then NO.
The only benefits-related legal authority I’ve been able to identify where the meaning of “personal injury” was considered is R(SB) 2/89. Not sure if it is of any relevance.
this is not a PI trust payment. that would only be if husband had died from a personal injury. this is capital - seems to me the tax/trust lawyers need a benefits course…