My mother died last year leaving £26,000. Now the council says it shouldn’t have been paying her housing benefit, since she had capital in excess of £16,000, and wants the money back. However when my father died in 1990 he made my mother promise to give this money to her granddaughters. Will I be able to argue that the money was held in trust for them?
I think you may have difficulty with this. Your daughters must be at least in their 20’s by now, so the question will inevitably be asked why your mother didn’t give them the money since they were of age. You also have the difficulty of proving that a promise was made originally. I’m afraid the council will be able to argue that even if there was such a promise your mother didn’t keep it!