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Hi everyone.....
Sorry this is bit long winded but here goes.....
my aunt was in a care home many miles from the rest of the family, her husband died in Feb 2014. Anyway, their solicitor looked after her money affairs and had a Power of Attorney, I'm not sure this was a formal arrangement but I do know he dealt with all her affairs and was paid for this.
Anyway, she sadly died last October, the estate was almost sorted till the DWP letter. Now the solicitor said that she wasn't in receipt of means tested benefits when she died so the claim must relate to payments before uncle died.
Being curious, I rang the DWP, they said that she HAD been in receipt of pension credit from 2013 till the day she died, and told me the amounts and date of payment. They said it would be clear on her bank statement that she was receiving pension credit. And he hadn't informed them of change in circumstances...presumably when uncle died...
So why didn't he know, or is he just covering up?
The second thing is Aunty left £200k between the 10 of us, my cousin and I have letters if administration but we are paying the solicitor to administer the estate because of his familiarity with her affairs. I have calculated the maximum they could claim is around £12-15k......so he's saying he can't distribute the estate, I've asked him to distribute £160k holding on to £40k to cover any DWP claim....is that allowed?
thanks for any advice
Sorry this is bit long winded but here goes.....
my aunt was in a care home many miles from the rest of the family, her husband died in Feb 2014. Anyway, their solicitor looked after her money affairs and had a Power of Attorney, I'm not sure this was a formal arrangement but I do know he dealt with all her affairs and was paid for this.
Anyway, she sadly died last October, the estate was almost sorted till the DWP letter. Now the solicitor said that she wasn't in receipt of means tested benefits when she died so the claim must relate to payments before uncle died.
Being curious, I rang the DWP, they said that she HAD been in receipt of pension credit from 2013 till the day she died, and told me the amounts and date of payment. They said it would be clear on her bank statement that she was receiving pension credit. And he hadn't informed them of change in circumstances...presumably when uncle died...
So why didn't he know, or is he just covering up?
The second thing is Aunty left £200k between the 10 of us, my cousin and I have letters if administration but we are paying the solicitor to administer the estate because of his familiarity with her affairs. I have calculated the maximum they could claim is around £12-15k......so he's saying he can't distribute the estate, I've asked him to distribute £160k holding on to £40k to cover any DWP claim....is that allowed?
thanks for any advice
