DWP recovering pension credit my mother was not entitled after death

[Guest]

Hi
The DWP are clawing back pension credit overpayments my mother was not entitled to from her assets after death. my mother My brother had court protection and only declared one bank account. He claimed pension credit on her behalf where tmy mother was incapable of doing so due to progressed dementia. I am now about to have half this payment made to him on her behalf taken from my inheritance on probate distribution of funds from assets. Tis could be as far back as 6 years whilst my brother had control of her finances. Will my solicitor make me resposnsable for the debt and take this from my half of inheratence/ ?? Thank you in advance for any imformation on this

[des8]

The debt is owed by your mother's estate.
Presumably the Pension Credit paid to your mother was used for her benefit, or has increased the balance of her estate and if it has to be repaid it will diminish her estate.
You are not liable for the debt, and it is not being removed from your legacy but from your mother's estate.
It is not yours until all debts of the estate are paid, and you then receive your share of the balance

[grumpygraham]

The DWP are under a general obligation to recover overpaid benefits wherever possible. However they generally have no legal right to information about a dead person's assets prior to the day of death. They will receive information from the probate office and/or inheritance tax returns, and if not then they are entitled to such information from the executors - but only relating to assets at the time of death and not for prior periods. The DWP will ask for such information (sometimes forcefully) but will not disclose that they have no legal right to that information. They may even say if the information is not supplied they will make up their own figures and these will be higher than the true situation. They may even threaten court action to recover the money they have guesstimated as being owed.- but this position is laughable - no court would accept such guestimates.

In essence they cannot formulate a claim without firm data and if the executors do not provide it then the DWP are in effect powerless..

You should as a first step familiarise yourself with the DWP desk officers guide to recovering overpayments:

Benefit overpayment recovery guide (publishing.service.gov.uk)

After that consider carefully your next steps - but in essence only give the DWP data where they can show you their legal authority to demand.it.