mum died now I have letter from recovery of estates

Glen_Clark

Elvisia wrote: »

I have some shares from when I was small - they are worth hardly anything as I get about £2.50 dividend a year - .

not quite £25,000 worth then. They don't just send you means tested benefits. You have to jump through hoops to claim them, and specifically state you do not own these things.

SandraScarlett

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Very sorry you have lost your mum.
But frankly, having seen how probing these DSS forms are, I find it incomprehensible how anybody could get means tested benefits and not know they have £25,000 worth of liquid assets. Even if the share certificates were stuffed away in a drawer she must have been receiving a regular dividend from them

But that's the whole point - so many people don't understand what they are receiving money-wise and why. I've always reconciled bank statements, and recorded cheque payments, but so many people don't, and as people get older, lots of things that might seem simple, become impossible to understand.

Yes, the forms are far-reaching, but it's a lot easier to put a line through a box, and hope that it's right, even though it isn't. Sadly, it may well be incomprehensible that someone did not know they had this amount of liquid assets, and some elderly people are blessed with being financially-savvy, and have a great memory at 85, but an awful lot aren't in this position.

xx

motherofstudents

yes it is perfectly possible. Envelopes received and put in a drawer unopened...accounts that were not known about (change of address not notified so no statements received) Lots of reasons. Also in my mum's case, she did not apply for any of these benefits. The forms were brought to her by social workers who were dealing with my dad's admission to care with dementia. She simply did not know about all these accounts or she could have spent the money.
Glen, if you read my post after this was sorted out, you will see that she was entitled to £27,000 anyway because of having disabilities so in fact after a year of having to provide all the proof of accounts, shares etc, there was only about £2500 to pay back !

Thanks to everyone for your support.

MissMoneypenny

SandraScarlett wrote: »

I do hope that anyone bereaved, who is due to inherit a reasonable amount, thinks seriously about contacting a solicitor, rather than doing it themselves. It may seem like a lot of money to pay out, but it saves so much heartache.

I asked my mother to make her solicitor her executive instead of me, because of the emotions I know I will be going through; when I really would need a clear head to sort all that. Money well spent IMHO and I've done the same with my will.

Glen_Clark

SandraScarlett wrote: »

some elderly people are blessed with being financially-savvy, and have a great memory at 85, but an awful lot aren't in this position.

xx

Fully appreciate that.
What I can't understand is how somebody could be savvy enough to successfully claim means tested benefits, but not savvy enough to remember they have £25,000

zzzLazyDaisy

Because very often it is Social Workers/Age Concern/CAB/ Family who complete the forms, and ask the questions. Quite often if it were not for friends or family or advice agencies intervening to help, people would not claim at all. Unfortunately when the claimant is asked questions by the person completing the form on their behalf they don't always know the answer or get confused. So the wrong information gets put down.

I remember completing forms for my mother who had alzheimers. She didn't have a clue what assets she had.

Dunroamin

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Because very often it is Social Workers/Age Concern/CAB/ Family who complete the forms, and ask the questions. Quite often if it were not for friends or family or advice agencies intervening to help, people would not claim at all. Unfortunately when the claimant is asked questions by the person completing the form on their behalf they don't always know the answer or get confused. So the wrong information gets put down.

I remember completing forms for my mother who had alzheimers. She didn't have a clue what assets she had.

Which is one of the reasons there's often big question marks over the applications submitted by other parties.

SandraScarlett

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

I asked my mother to make her solicitor her executive instead of me, because of the emotions I know I will be going through; when I really would need a clear head to sort all that. Money well spent IMHO and I've done the same with my will.

When my Mum died, I used a solicitor for the exact same reasons. When my Uncle died, my Aunt said "Should I use a solicitor, or should I make you my Electrolux"!!!!!!

xx

SandraScarlett

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Fully appreciate that.
What I can't understand is how somebody could be savvy enough to successfully claim means tested benefits, but not savvy enough to remember they have £25,000

Oh Glen, it's not being "savvy" that's the problem, it's that random things are completely forgotten. I really hope that you, and your family and friends, don't encounter the problems of dementia. My DH and I have been married nearly 50 years, and I've never drunk tea in all that time.

Now, he regularly makes me sugary cups of tea, has often forgotten both my name and his own, and can't remember what day of the week it is. Fifty pence pieces and 20p pieces are regularly confused. Yet, come the end of the football season, he can work out with ease, who needs to draw or win in order to escape being relegated!

For every elderly person who claims what they shouldn't, either by design or in error, there are probably 100 who aren't claiming what they should, either through ignorance, confusion, or the belief that they won't accept "charity".

xx

Mojisola

SandraScarlett wrote: »

Oh Glen, it's not being "savvy" that's the problem, it's that random things are completely forgotten.

Also, it's not uncommon for elderly people to not count some savings because "that's the money for our funerals", "my husband said that money was to be given to the grandchildren when we've both gone", etc.

They've stopped thinking of the money as theirs and so honestly - but mistakenly - answer that they don't have any other money in savings.

In most cases where the claims were intentionally fraudulent, the excess money is usually hidden rather than sitting in accounts in their names.