Can DWP claim an overpayment from an estate when there is only a house

[iona]

Re: Can DWP claim an overpayment from an estate when there is only a house

This is Tory by design. Tory = cut all state benefits; claim back all overpayment benefits. The Tories did it to manipulate 1925 debtor claims to their favour. Tory Gov. - 1979-1997. Labour got in power, 1997. Tories are experts on cutting public money or claiming it back. If the solicitor had read DWP overpayment law they'd have known there were grounds in your mother's case (claim against her estate) to cancel the investigations, notwithstanding your mother didn't even have capacity (through dementia) and at the point they realised this, informed you what they did. I am not even a legal professional never mind a solicitor or barrister and I am aware of the relevant laws. Technically, the legal ombudsman could investigate your crap solicitor and the Parliament Ombudsman could investigate the actions of DWP.

Yes I think you are probably right. I just didn't have the stomach for the fight, I was being pressurised by the executors and the solicitor to pay up, they did not think I would win an appeal. I did and the solicitor did request an appeal which it seems got nowhere. My husband was ill and trying to cope with prostate cancer surgery and treatment. I have a full time job and also work in the evenings to make ends meet, I was exhausted with it all. I am badly disabled with arthritis so am in constant pain and it makes life really hard. Sometimes I make decisions like this just because I cannot cope with fighting things. My more rational self tells me I should have stood up to them all, my giving up self because it is all too much gave in and paid. I felt such a sense of black cloud lifting when I made the last payment it actually felt worth it, even although at the same time I also felt I had been run over by a very heavy truck called DWP and the legal system combined. Unfortunately I know I am not alone, I was speaking to my neighbour just yesterday and we have spoken of my situation before. She has a close fried also going through almost exactly the same situation. She has just made an agreement to pay DWP 26K for overpayment they say was made to her parents, she got nowhere with fighting them either and I think she had better legal representation than I did. Seems to me they are a government department out of control with an inflated idea of their own importance bolstered greatly by the Tory government. My youngest brother who was 56 died 8 days before my mother and we had similar situation with his estate although not such large sums. He had terminal cancer and was very ill for a long time before he died, DWP decided to claw back money from his estate as his bank balance had gone over the savings limit at one point while he was in hospital. However fortunately the money was still siting there in his account when he died, he was far too ill to spend any of it and was being fed through a tube so was not even buying food. They just took most of the money in his bank account back again. Leaving only enough to meet the debts such as funeral and legal fees. They are doing this with people all over the UK. But in fact he was actually entitled to receive that money when it was paid to him. Because he did not use it all to live they want it back and that is what is happening.

[iona]

Re: Can DWP claim an overpayment from an estate when there is only a house

I want to say thank you very much to every one of you who have taken the time to contribute to this post. You have no idea how much it has helped me just to be able to share all this. My family are busy with their own lives and my husband was ill with cancer while we were coping with all this. I did talk to him about it but kept a lot of it to myself as he just was not well enough to deal with the worry of it. So receiving replies from others was really helpful in so many ways. I did feel as if I was going to go completely mad with worry about it and now it is almost over, just one last bill of unknown amount to pay the rather useless solicitor, who's main contribution to this was to say that she was not there to advise just to take instructions from clients. I am not entirely sure why the legal profession don't realise that actually members of the general public often don't know how to instruct or even what they actually want. They really need to be advised about what is possible and what direction they should take. But it seems that is not how the cookie crumbles.

[Openlaw15]

Re: Can DWP claim an overpayment from an estate when there is only a house

Yes I think you are probably right. I just didn't have the stomach for the fight, I was being pressurised by the executors and the solicitor to pay up, they did not think I would win an appeal. I did and the solicitor did request an appeal which it seems got nowhere. My husband was ill and trying to cope with prostate cancer surgery and treatment. I have a full time job and also work in the evenings to make ends meet, I was exhausted with it all. I am badly disabled with arthritis so am in constant pain and it makes life really hard. Sometimes I make decisions like this just because I cannot cope with fighting things. My more rational self tells me I should have stood up to them all, my giving up self because it is all too much gave in and paid. I felt such a sense of black cloud lifting when I made the last payment it actually felt worth it, even although at the same time I also felt I had been run over by a very heavy truck called DWP and the legal system combined. Unfortunately I know I am not alone, I was speaking to my neighbour just yesterday and we have spoken of my situation before. She has a close fried also going through almost exactly the same situation. She has just made an agreement to pay DWP 26K for overpayment they say was made to her parents, she got nowhere with fighting them either and I think she had better legal representation than I did. Seems to me they are a government department out of control with an inflated idea of their own importance bolstered greatly by the Tory government. My youngest brother who was 56 died 8 days before my mother and we had similar situation with his estate although not such large sums. He had terminal cancer and was very ill for a long time before he died, DWP decided to claw back money from his estate as his bank balance had gone over the savings limit at one point while he was in hospital. However fortunately the money was still siting there in his account when he died, he was far too ill to spend any of it and was being fed through a tube so was not even buying food. They just took most of the money in his bank account back again. Leaving only enough to meet the debts such as funeral and legal fees. They are doing this with people all over the UK. But in fact he was actually entitled to receive that money when it was paid to him. Because he did not use it all to live they want it back and that is what is happening.

i so sorry for all that you have endured but equally congratulate you on your best efforts to fight the very unfair system. It seems to me these lawyers fighting for you and your neighbour are simply crap or have done the least possible for no doubt lots of money you both paid them. If your neighbour is up to it, perhaps they could post on here. Just because they have agreed in principle to pay doesn't mean they can't change their mind. DWP robots use all types of scare tactics. In my view, I would only concede with paying the scumbags if they won a court order for it. Even then I would argue to high heaven as why they shouldn't have a court order in their favour. I would rather be defeated in court and then forced to pay it out rather than just concede because they're gang of emotionless robots.

[iona]

Re: Can DWP claim an overpayment from an estate when there is only a house

i so sorry for all that you have endured but equally congratulate you on your best efforts to fight the very unfair system. It seems to me these lawyers fighting for you and your neighbour are simply crap or have done the least possible for no doubt lots of money you both paid them. If your neighbour is up to it, perhaps they could post on here. Just because they have agreed in principle to pay doesn't mean they can't change their mind. DWP robots use all types of scare tactics. In my view, I would only concede with paying the scumbags if they won a court order for it. Even then I would argue to high heaven as why they shouldn't have a court order in their favour. I would rather be defeated in court and then forced to pay it out rather than just concede because they're gang of emotionless robots.

I will suggest that my neighbour passes the details of this site on to her friend the next time I see her. I know my neighbour would not be able to post on here she is not much older than I am but she has never used a computer and I don't think she would know where to begin. However I think her friend who is facing the 26k debt to DWP may well be more computer literate. So you may hear more at some stage.