pension company overpayed, can we keep it?

srb617

When my brother in law died my wife and her sister were the beneficiaries, they expected £14500 each, but after delaying the payout for 10 months the bungling pension company payed them £29000 each. We signed to say we had recieved these cheques. A week later they wrote saying they had made a mistake and could we please return the money. They have not as yet demanded the money back. Are we legally obliged to return the money?
Many thanks

Andy_L

Yes, you are.

Andy

srb617

Thanks for your prompt reply. Are you a legal person? I was told by a trainee lawyer that if you signed to recieve a cheque for that ammount you were not obliged to return it?

dunstonh

you are not entitled to keep money you are not entitled to. Whilst they have to ask you to give it back, if you fail to do so, they can take legal action against you to reclaim it through the courts.

moneyandmountains

srb617 wrote:

but after delaying the payout for 10 months the bungling pension company payed them £29000 each.

Whilst not entitled to keep the 29k, it would be reasonable to ask for 10 months of interest on the payout amount.

Debt_Free_Chick

srb617 wrote:

Thanks for your prompt reply. Are you a legal person? I was told by a trainee lawyer that if you signed to recieve a cheque for that ammount you were not obliged to return it?

LOL! By signing you have confirmed you received the incorrect amount - an amount to which you were not entitled.

Run this past the trainee .... what about the principle that you are not entitled to benefit from someone elses mistake. You may well benefit, but the mistake does not create an entitlement to the incorrect amount. If it did, then anytime you were given too much change in a shop, you'd just walk out and say "I'm entitled to it"

Your entitlement is whatever is described in the governing document (policy, rules etc). And nothing more.

If you think about it .... if you owed someone £100, but paid them £200 by mistake, how would you feel if they said "Your mistake - I'm entitled to keep the extra £100!" :rolleyes: