Rules about gifts

An inheritance is a gift. Usually, ODSP does not count gifts as income. But if you get more than $10,000 worth of gifts in one year, ODSP counts any gifts above $10,000 as income.

If the total of all of your gifts, including your inheritance, is less than $10,000, ODSP does not count your inheritance as income. You can spend it any way you want.

If you keep a gift instead of spending it, ODSP counts the gift as an asset. So if you keep any of your inheritance instead of spending it, ODSP counts what you keep as an asset. ODSP counts it as an asset the month after you get it.

For example, you get an inheritance of $8,000 in July. You spend $3,000 right away and keep $5,000 in a savings account. ODSP will not count any of your inheritance as an asset in July but will count $5,000 as an asset in August.