DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

[Bv123]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

Update. Short version (see previous post for full version) -


DWP RFE sent me letter saying, "Thank you for providing details of the estate...The details do not match.....too much pension credit may have been paid.....We need more information. Please supply statements, passbooks, balances or valuations of all the accounts/assets".


I have contacted banks etc to get these statements. These are now ready to be sent to DWP RFE.

Am I being naive and just giving them more ammunition for their canon?

The house was/is in "Tenency in Common" between Dad, mum and myself.
Dad's portion of the house amounts to £100,000
Dad's accounts and shares are valued at £31,000.

The DWP's "...please supply..." request is just that is it not? Just a request? Can I tell them to just tell me a final figure right now? I am now (after two breakdowns) mentally prepared to hand over the full value of the accounts to cover any overpayments, however if it is more than the value of the accounts can they look to the house to recoup?

Could any of this have a knock on effect to my mum's benefits she currently receives?

Any help and advise really appreciated.
:help:ray:

[Kati]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

tagging [MENTION=141]enaid[/MENTION] xx

[Worrier2016]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

Update. Short version (see previous post for full version) -


DWP RFE sent me letter saying, "Thank you for providing details of the estate...The details do not match.....too much pension credit may have been paid.....We need more information. Please supply statements, passbooks, balances or valuations of all the accounts/assets".


I have contacted banks etc to get these statements. These are now ready to be sent to DWP RFE.

Am I being naive and just giving them more ammunition for their canon?

The house was/is in "Tenency in Common" between Dad, mum and myself.
Dad's portion of the house amounts to £100,000
Dad's accounts and shares are valued at £31,000.

The DWP's "...please supply..." request is just that is it not? Just a request? Can I tell them to just tell me a final figure right now? I am now (after two breakdowns) mentally prepared to hand over the full value of the accounts to cover any overpayments, however if it is more than the value of the accounts can they look to the house to recoup?

Could any of this have a knock on effect to my mum's benefits she currently receives?

Any help and advise really appreciated.
:help:ray:

Sorry for tagging onto your post BV123 but I'm interested in the response you get as I'm just starting this horrendous procedure too 😪 -
Hello everyone. I'm a newbe to this forum. I've read other posts regarding the same subject as mine as my scenario is very similar. But there isn't any info (that I could see) regarding outcomes.
Sadly my 88 year old mum passed away suddenly in April this year. Mum had Attendance Allowance (higher rate) and Guaranteed pension credit. I know Age concern helped her with the attendance allowance form but I don't know how she got her pension credit! Thinking everything had been sorted I split mums estate with my brother at the beginning of this month. However I received a letter from the Recovery team with a form to complete listing all of mums assets. I did this and duly sent it back. However I'm now concerned as they included Premium bonds, unit trusts, ISA's etc on the form. Do they consider them as savings/income as mum had unit trusts, an ISA and life assurance. She wasn't very mobile and was quite frugal with her money so consequently she had over 29k in her bank and post office account. On two occasions my mum had me ring DWP because she was worried about getting benefits whilst she had so much money in her accounts. On both occasions I was told that mum could win the lottery and it wouldn't affect her guaranteed pension credit! My mum was a very honest woman and wouldn't have done anything dishonest. If she hadn't mentioned the unit trust, ISA etc it would be because she either didn't consider them as savings (if that's what they are?) or forgot she had them! What's likely to happen please? 😔 Thank you in advance

[enaid]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

As mentioned before the assessment periods a very important and would have been stated on the original award letter.
Have a read of the simple explanation on the link below.
If you can find any of the award letters or letters about reassessments of PC that would be a big help if not I would write to DWP and ask for a copy from them, see what they come back with.
If the correct information was given on the initial assessment for PC and the assessment period rules apply then I can't see how any overpayment claim can be made.
This is just my opinion but the rules are there work both ways.

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...i-636-2014.pdf

[TVC1]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

Morning -

I cannot comment on your Mum's benefits but just wanted to advise that you should not expect a speedy conclusion. My first letter from the DWP was on 25 May and all the information was provided within their tight timescales, and yet, following a phone call in September asking when the matter would be finalised, I am told that there will be notification until mid December................and here's hoping,

[Bv123]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

As mentioned before the assessment periods a very important and would have been stated on the original award letter.
Have a read of the simple explanation on the link below.
If you can find any of the award letters or letters about reassessments of PC that would be a big help if not I would write to DWP and ask for a copy from them, see what they come back with.
If the correct information was given on the initial assessment for PC and the assessment period rules apply then I can't see how any overpayment claim can be made.
This is just my opinion but the rules are there work both ways.

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...i-636-2014.pdf

Hi Enaid,

Hope you did not stay up just to reply to my post! But very much appreciated.

I'll have to contact DWP for the award letters. I'm assuming its the "normal" DWP I contact and not the DWP RFE, yes?

[enaid]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

No I didn't stay up am an early bird who's sleep pattern is up the wall lol.
There is no such thing as a 'normal DWP' imho lol
Well if they are saying things don't match up and haven't stated exactly what the mismatch is, my tinpot mind would think well they have all their info to compare with your info , so ask them if they can verify when your dad first went on PC and his assessment period and if and when reassessments were carries out.
If you have a copy of his statements from the date he went on PC you will know if his declaration was as it should have been and should see his PC payments going in the account.
This may not be the right approach and others may tell you different, but I would have to throw the ball back in their court and let them start proving stuff.

[Bv123]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

HI Worrier2016,

Sorry for your loss.

Its good to see that you are searching for information rather than just relying on the governments juggernaut of a bureaucratic process.

Feel free to follow this thread and pick up on the advice provided by Enaid et al (especially the latest one regarding award letters).
However, if you start to receive specific advice that might not be relevant to my case, it would be a good idea to start your own thread. The moderators might also ask you to start your own thread. Lets see how its goes.

As TVC1 says, and no doubt as you will have read in many posts here, this is a very long and frustrating process, so prepare for that. My advise is -
just be patient and have as much paperwork to hand as possible.
Have family/friends support you.
Allow one or two days a week to tackle the paperwork from DWP RFE - don't let it take over your whole week, you have your own life to follow. I went down that road thinking I could speed things up and it just got me miserable.

Anyway, as Executor and having Grant of Probate, I am legally obliged to follow this through to the end.
Are you also? Or do you have a solicitor instead?

[Bv123]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

No I didn't stay up am an early bird who's sleep pattern is up the wall lol.
There is no such thing as a 'normal DWP' imho lol
Well if they are saying things don't match up and haven't stated exactly what the mismatch is, my tinpot mind would think well they have all their info to compare with your info , so ask them if they can verify when your dad first went on PC and his assessment period and if and when reassessments were carries out.
If you have a copy of his statements from the date he went on PC you will know if his declaration was as it should have been and should see his PC payments going in the account.
This may not be the right approach and others may tell you different, but I would have to throw the ball back in their court and let them start proving stuff.

"...no such thing as a 'normal DWP' imho lol...." - glad I made you laugh. I get it too now.
I thought there would be the DWP that deal with new claims (the "normal" DWP), and separately the DWP that chases for overpayments.

I would so love to throw things back in their court - "if you think there has been an overpayment, just tell me how much !"

but they are asking me to provide bank statements etc, seemingly to try and prove their case. which is also what frustrates me.

As you advise, I will ask them for the letters.

[TVC1]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

I thought I would just try to give a word of encouragement to those who are going through the same trauma of the DWP investigating overpayment on Pension Credit of a deceased person. After numerous months of supplying bank information going back to 2003 and endless sleepless nights, the DWP have just concluded their investigations stating that they find the declared sums in the estate are in accord with their records. This has cost me several hundreds of Pounds for which they will take no responsibility. However, a great weight off my shoulders. Good Luck to all those still awaiting.

[enaid]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

Thank you for the update, well done for sticking with it and really pleased the result was a good one. It is a horrible situation and any help we can give others is always appreciated.
Thanks again, Enaid x

[Bv123]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

I thought I would just try to give a word of encouragement to those who are going through the same trauma of the DWP investigating overpayment on Pension Credit of a deceased person. After numerous months of supplying bank information going back to 2003 and endless sleepless nights, the DWP have just concluded their investigations stating that they find the declared sums in the estate are in accord with their records. This has cost me several hundreds of Pounds for which they will take no responsibility. However, a great weight off my shoulders. Good Luck to all those still awaiting.

Hi TVC1.

That must be a really good feeling. Thanks for posting the final outcome (in any case). Many threads on here are left in the lurch.

Did your banks "easily" and quickly supply the statements? I found the "first line" people I call are very helpful but they then have to pass the information to their "back office" to get the actual statements from particular dates and that's where the request seems to go astray. 2 weeks later I receive statements with incorrect dates or confusing dates (not in chronological order) so have to call "first line" again who obviously say "you have already requested that" or " it will be in the post give it a little longer".

Did any of your banks actually have statements going as far back as 2003? Mines told me what DWP expected - "....only hold for the last 6 years...."

[TVC1]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

One bank responded very quickly; the other took a reminder letter. One bank could go back to 2003; the other could only go back 6 years. The DWP had all this information in June 2016 and finalised the outcome early November whereas they indicated that they would not make a decision until mid December. I would mention at the start of the enquiry, I gave them detailed accounts of assets and expenditure post death and later supplied assets and expenditure at at when mum became too ill to sign cheques and power of attorney was being sought. For this period, I personally was paying all her bills from my bank account.

The DWP did not question the fact that one bank account could not go back to 2003. I did read somewhere that if the DWP are found to be at fault, they can only claim back six years anyway. If it had been necessary, I would have begun to make the case that they did not do follow up assessments on a lady who was 92 at time of death and had suffered the trauma of a mastectomy, broken hip and dementia so was not in a fit state to contact them

Good luck - if I can be of any more assistance please contact me.

[Bv123]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

One bank responded very quickly; the other took a reminder letter. One bank could go back to 2003; the other could only go back 6 years. The DWP had all this information in June 2016 and finalised the outcome early November whereas they indicated that they would not make a decision until mid December. I would mention at the start of the enquiry, I gave them detailed accounts of assets and expenditure post death and later supplied assets and expenditure at at when mum became too ill to sign cheques and power of attorney was being sought. For this period, I personally was paying all her bills from my bank account.

The DWP did not question the fact that one bank account could not go back to 2003. I did read somewhere that if the DWP are found to be at fault, they can only claim back six years anyway. If it had been necessary, I would have begun to make the case that they did not do follow up assessments on a lady who was 92 at time of death and had suffered the trauma of a mastectomy, broken hip and dementia so was not in a fit state to contact them

Good luck - if I can be of any more assistance please contact me.

TVC1,
Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry to hear what your mother had to go through.

So, approx 6 months for DWP to make a decision. I'll bear that in mind (more patience needed).

"...expenditure post death..." - DWP did not ask me for that and I did not think to ask. I too had paid personally for some items (funeral expenses etc) out of my own pocket. Being the only son, I felt it was my moral duty. At this point, I still feel overwhelmed with the whole thing and just want DWP to send me an actual demand letter which I can pay off and close this saga.

Thanks for the offer of assistance. It might be 6 months before I take you up on that offer.

[TVC1]

Re: DWP Recovery from Estate - Solicitor recomendations

I will keep the research paperwork.

I know how you feel. The stress is unbearable - I was thinking that all my parents had worked hard for all their life, never claiming a penny from the State,, was about to disappear due to lack of vigilance by the DWP. Many, many sleepless nights. BUT hold on and have hope, in the end their claim on my mother's estate came to nothing.

Try to put it to the back of your mind until you hear from them.