DWP asking for info after mums death

Snowy2012

Hi all,

My mum passed away recently (in hospital). She was receiving the highest rate of DLA (had been for many years) along with pension credit etc... She had a Motability car which used me as a chauffer LOL!

For the last 4 months prior to her death she had been in hospital. She had 2 discharges in that period: one for 2 days and one for 1 day - essentially she kept ending up back in.

She eventually died. We registered the death straight away and the registrar informed the DWP. We also closed her bank accounts immediately.

She died peniless - No savings, no assests, no property and no insurances. She also didn't leave a will.

I have come forward as next of kin as nobody else wanted to!

Basically, there was about £400 in her bank (DLA/Pension payments) which has been released and that didn't even touch the funeral cost (about £2000).

Now I have had a letter from the DWP asking for info as (in their words) "This may mean the further payments are due or that some payments issued may need to be repaid".

Here is my question : After receiving the letter I have done some digging around into the DLA rules and regs and it appears that Mum should have told them she was in hospital for so long. However, she didn't. To be honest, she didn't simple because she didn't know of the requirement. If I didn't know then she certainly wouldn't have.

The form the DWP have sent asks for dates of hospitalisation. If I fill this in correctly then they are going to say she has been overpaid for 4 months!

The questions I have are as follows :

1. Can I refuse to fill the forms in on the basis that I simply don't want to ?

2. If I do fill them in correctly, can they come to me to recoup the overpaid DLA etc? Please bear in mind that Mum died completely penniless.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Snowy2012

BTW : Bit more info, Mum was a widow when she died so there was no partner.

TBH, I am really worried about my mum's debts - Even the housing association she rented from are now saying that "the estate" owes them about £200 because, of course, after death the housing benefit stopped and it took us two weeks to clear the flat out.

British Gas are saying a similar thing.

Thing is : There is no "estate" - She died with £400 to her name which we spent towards the funeral.

pmlindyloo

This is a good place to start for an overview.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/DebtsAndArrears/DG_10013093

duchy

I suppose the obvious question is if she was getting pension and DLA and HB going into her bank the obvious question is why after four months there was only £400 in her bank account if she wasn't well enough to be drawing cash out-was it a joint account ?

Odds are what you got was a standard letter and if there's no estate there's nothing to pay from (although whether a funeral is a legitimate use of funds or not is a question that needs answering I suppose. It may be the DWP overpayment comes first legally I honestly don't know)

Snowy2012

Thanks for the link pmlindyloo - I will read it

Good point you make duchy and no it wasn't a joint account - The fact is that basically she got about 300 per month DLA and about 190 per week pension type stuff.

She had lots of direct debits for her satellite TV, phone, water rates, house insurance etc that came out monthly.

The rest of the money she would ask me to draw from the bank for her and bring into hospital. She would then distribute it amongst family members to "get things for her" - My sister seemed to be buying new bloody clothes and pyjamas for her every other day!

Basically, she wanted the money in cash in the hospital and I think she was just giving bits out to family and friends as I think she knew she wouldn't last long (would have been nice of her to tell me though if she thought that!!!!)

I know that I personally spent (out of her money) at least £30 a week on food for her as she refused to eat the slop the hospital dished out.

bestpud

That's quite a lot of money unaccounted for!

Snowy2012

bestpud wrote: »

That's quite a lot of money unaccounted for!

I agree with you but I wouldn't have dared ask my Mum what she did with her money LOL! She just asked me to draw cash out and give it to her in hospital. She was razor sharp, had all of her facultys (and then some) and very private about things like that.

Once she put that cash in handbag that was that as far as she was concerned LOL!

Spamfree_2

Snowy2012 wrote: »

I agree with you but I wouldn't have dared ask my Mum what she did with her money LOL! She just asked me to draw cash out and give it to her in hospital. She was razor sharp, had all of her facultys (and then some) and very private about things like that.

Once she put that cash in handbag that was that as far as she was concerned LOL!

So the nurses took the money then?

Or were relatives visiting and taking it/being given it because it can not have disappeared into thin air.

How much was she asking you to take out for her and take into her every week?

Snowy2012

Spamfree wrote: »

So the nurses took the money then?

Or were relatives visiting and taking it/being given it because it can not have disappeared into thin air.

How much was she asking you to take out for her and take into her every week?

She would usually give me her card and ask me to get her about £80-£100 a week. I know she also asked my sister (whom I don't speak to now) to do the same thing.

I already suspect I know who the majority of the money was given to but as I can't prove a damn thing I am just having to keep out of it!

CouponWoman

When someone died intestate the next of kin would normally sort out the deceased estate.

As your mum had no partner, no savings, then all debts and liabilities should die with her.

However if she left an estate, ie insurance policies, savings, stocks & shares, property, valueables, jewellery etc then all debts come out of this even when there is no will. Funeral costs have first dibs at any estate.

All you can do is write to your mums creditors saying she left no will, no partner, no savings or money and they should cancel the debts.

Sorry but if I were in the same situation I would definately have asked mum what she was doing with her money as hospitals tell you not to bring money onto a ward and its obviously too much for her needs as a patient.


xx

vax2002

Obviously not wanting to upset, but I would write back telling them to write to the person who had the claim, it was not you and you can offer no help as you are not executor of any estate.
You dont have to correspond with them beyond that.