Tweet
DWP Recovery from Estates
Address:
Recovery from Estates
Debt Management (BF)
PO Box 172
Mitcheldean
Gloucestershire
GL17 0XH
Tel 0345 850 0051
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Everyone, my first time here and hoping for some good advice. Sorry if this is a bit long, but I've tried to explain best as I can! Also sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but feel free to move it to one more appropriate.
My mother died in July 2011 aged 92. One of my daughters is the Executor for her Will and has done everything correctly and honestly regarding probate, which was subsequently granted.
However, since then, the DWP have sent a letter saying Mum may have been receiving benefits she was not entitled to, enclosing a form to list details of all her savings etc.
Now they are requesting all account statements, pass books etc. from 1996 to 2003 (she had accounts with four financial institutions), and have told my daughter not to distribute anything from Mum’s estate, including her quarter share of proceeds from the sale of her house. (The house was owned by four people; me, my two brothers and Mum, as Tenants in Common).
The story is that in 1995 she was granted Attendance Allowance (found this in a diary) and some years later, Pension Credit. It appears that since then she had accrued too much in savings, though as far as we know she was below the threshold at the start of receiving the benefit. Over the later years she had declined both physically and mentally, which meant she lived frugally (stopped eating well and going out etc.) and this probably allowed her savings to mount. Her frailty of mind, no doubt, meant she would not have been aware of this state of affairs, and unfortunately none of us knew of her savings till after she’d died, otherwise we could have intervened to prevent such a situation arising.
Currently all the money from Mum’s estate is now on hold in an Executor account gaining no interest, and could remain so (according to a DWP spokesperson) for many months, until this is sorted out.
Whilst we appreciate that overpayments must be paid back, we are concerned at the demands being made by the DWP - therefore what we would like to know is:
1) Do the DWP have a legal right to expect statements that far back? And as Pension Credit could only have been paid from 2003, why do they need statements before then?
2) Though the DWP are advising not to distribute Mum’s estate to the beneficiaries, should that include the funds from her share of the house? In fact do they have a legal right to retrieve money from that share? As I understand it, the value of her share of the house would not have been taken into consideration when being means tested for Pension Credit?
3) My daughter has been told that if she DOES distribute any of the funds, then she will be held accountable for repaying money owed to the DWP. Can she legally be made to pay?
Thanks in advance for any help and advice.
Recovery from Estates
Debt Management (BF)
PO Box 172
Mitcheldean
Gloucestershire
GL17 0XH
Tel 0345 850 0051
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Everyone, my first time here and hoping for some good advice. Sorry if this is a bit long, but I've tried to explain best as I can! Also sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but feel free to move it to one more appropriate.
My mother died in July 2011 aged 92. One of my daughters is the Executor for her Will and has done everything correctly and honestly regarding probate, which was subsequently granted.
However, since then, the DWP have sent a letter saying Mum may have been receiving benefits she was not entitled to, enclosing a form to list details of all her savings etc.
Now they are requesting all account statements, pass books etc. from 1996 to 2003 (she had accounts with four financial institutions), and have told my daughter not to distribute anything from Mum’s estate, including her quarter share of proceeds from the sale of her house. (The house was owned by four people; me, my two brothers and Mum, as Tenants in Common).
The story is that in 1995 she was granted Attendance Allowance (found this in a diary) and some years later, Pension Credit. It appears that since then she had accrued too much in savings, though as far as we know she was below the threshold at the start of receiving the benefit. Over the later years she had declined both physically and mentally, which meant she lived frugally (stopped eating well and going out etc.) and this probably allowed her savings to mount. Her frailty of mind, no doubt, meant she would not have been aware of this state of affairs, and unfortunately none of us knew of her savings till after she’d died, otherwise we could have intervened to prevent such a situation arising.
Currently all the money from Mum’s estate is now on hold in an Executor account gaining no interest, and could remain so (according to a DWP spokesperson) for many months, until this is sorted out.
Whilst we appreciate that overpayments must be paid back, we are concerned at the demands being made by the DWP - therefore what we would like to know is:
1) Do the DWP have a legal right to expect statements that far back? And as Pension Credit could only have been paid from 2003, why do they need statements before then?
2) Though the DWP are advising not to distribute Mum’s estate to the beneficiaries, should that include the funds from her share of the house? In fact do they have a legal right to retrieve money from that share? As I understand it, the value of her share of the house would not have been taken into consideration when being means tested for Pension Credit?
3) My daughter has been told that if she DOES distribute any of the funds, then she will be held accountable for repaying money owed to the DWP. Can she legally be made to pay?
Thanks in advance for any help and advice.
Comment