DWP requesting refund for payments for deceased family member -

Glee_Fan

Hi all,

First post and not sure if I am in the right place, so please be gentle with me!!

My father in law passed away in March. I wrote to everyone and informed them of his death within a week. My husband as his only child is executor.

He didn't have much money, barely enough to cover the funeral costs really, and he lived in sheltered accomodation, so there was nothing left to distribute and no property to sell.

We have received 2 letters this week saying overpayments have been made from DWP for his pension and pension credit, totalling £500.

Are we obliged to pay this?

Many thanks for any advice you can give in advance.

singlehouseholder

its whats called direct payment after death, you state the letter "requests", if so thats just what it is.

Glee_Fan

Hi, thanks for your reply.

"We hope you will appreciate that when public funds are incorrectly paid we are obliged to ask for them to be refunded" is what the letter says.

healy

Glee_Fan wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your reply.

"We hope you will appreciate that when public funds are incorrectly paid we are obliged to ask for them to be refunded" is what the letter says.

As they are making a request and you informed them of the death in good time you are not obliged to pay the money back.

It might be worth double checking this with the CAB.

bengal-stripe

If pension and pension credit was paid weekly, this would have been weekly in advance (Monday to Sunday). If your husband advises the DWP “within a week” of his father’s death, the account will probably have received two if not three payments, the recipient was no longer entitled to.

It is easy to see on the statements, what monies were received from the DWP after the date of the death. (Two weeks, I would guess. They do go out on Wednesday or Thursday of the previous week.) Those payments need to be returned. I don’t know what happens to part of the money for the week of the death. Money gets paid in advance on Monday, but the recipient dies on Wednesday. Does the DPW demands the return of the payment for those four days, or do they write it off?

Definitely, all payments received on the Monday(s) after the death week will have to be returned.

healy

bengal-stripe wrote: »

If pension and pension credit was paid weekly, this would have been weekly in advance (Monday to Sunday). If your husband advises the DWP “within a week” of his father’s death, the account will probably have received two if not three payments, the recipient was no longer entitled to.

It is easy to see on the statements, what monies were received from the DWP after the date of the death. (Two weeks, I would guess. They do go out on Wednesday or Thursday of the previous week.) Those payments need to be returned. I don’t know what happens to part of the money for the week of the death. Money gets paid in advance on Monday, but the recipient dies on Wednesday. Does the DPW demands the return of the payment for those four days, or do they write it off?

Definitely, all payments received on the Monday(s) after the death week will have to be returned.

Sorry I thought it was paid in arrears.

bengal-stripe

healy wrote: »

Sorry I thought it was paid in arrears.

Pensions paid weekly are paid in advance.
Pensions paid every four or thirteen weeks, are paid in arrears.
Pension credit is always paid weekly in advance.

Owain_Moneysaver

Glee_Fan wrote: »

My father in law passed away in March. I wrote to everyone and informed them of his death within a week. My husband as his only child is executor.

He didn't have much money, barely enough to cover the funeral costs really, and he lived in sheltered accomodation, so there was nothing left to distribute and no property to sell.

We have received 2 letters this week saying overpayments have been made from DWP for his pension and pension credit, totalling £500.

Are we obliged to pay this?

No. Any repayment would be from the assets distributed by the estate. Executors are not* liable for the debts of the deceased.

If your husband has a statement of the affairs of the deceased showing there are no assets left after funeral expenses were paid, send a copy of that back to the DWP.

* Executor might be personally liable if he'd distributed all the assets before paying the liabilities, but I'm not a lawyer.

Glee_Fan

Thanks everyone. I will contact CAB and see what they have to say.

Killmark

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

* Executor might be personally liable if he'd distributed all the assets before paying the liabilities, but I'm not a lawyer.

You could become liable (responsible) for the debts if you pay the beneficiaries without having cleared all the debts first. You may also have to submit a tax return for the person who has died.
If there is not enough money to pay all the debts, they must be paid in a particular order:
1. the funeral expenses and 'testamentary' expenses (those to do with dealing with the will);
2. any debt secured by a mortgage on a property;
3. HM Revenue and Customs;
4. the Department of Work and Pensions, who deal with social security (you may have to refund any over-payment of benefits);
5. unpaid pension contributions or wages.
If all the debts can be paid, but there isn’t enough money left to pay everything set out in the will, the legacies (those where a specific amount is mentioned) will be paid first, and the other people mentioned will get what is left over.
If there is not enough to pay all the legacies, the people entitled to the legacies will get a proportion of what they have been left, depending on how much money is available. The other people mentioned in the will, who are supposed to get the remainder, will get nothing.

anmarj

bengal-stripe wrote: »

Money gets paid in advance on Monday, but the recipient dies on Wednesday. Does the DPW demands the return of the payment for those four days, or do they write it off?

no, if the customer died on or during their payweekthey are paid for the full week, - thankfully