DWP reclaiming overpaid pension after mum's death

laxeylady

My mum died on the 19th May leaving about £1500 in the bank. They wouldn't let us touch it but agreed to pay bills that came in and pay the remainder to the co-op to pay towards her funeral. The account is now shut. I received a letter today from DWP saying that pension and attendance allowance payments were made in to her account the week after she died and they want it back. They were informed of her death straight away and the account was left for weeks to make sure nothing else was going in or out. We're gutted about having more debt to pay. Where do we stand? What will they do if I just ignore the letter?

Torry_Quine

Definitely don't ignore the letter. They won't go away.

You say that you left the account open so didn't you see that payments were made. I have a feeling that DWP are a priority after funeral costs. However if there is no money left then you aren't liable.

laxeylady

We weren't given access to it - it was frozen as soon as the bank was informed of her death. The manager was very good though and could see that what was in there was by no means going to cover the funeral etc and made payments to the co-op on our behalf. But it's been two months now - we paid her utility bills and the balance of the funeral and then the bank closed the account. I'll write to the DWP and explain that her account is shut. I can't see them giving up though.

Torry_Quine

They will have to give up. The estate has no money left and you aren't liable.

minimadtrix

I notified DWP the day after my dad died - I think I could do it on the internet. They still paid his pension for the next 2 weeks - I assume the computer doesn't work that fast to stop payments going out.

A couple of months later, the Debt Recovery team wrote to me, as his executor, and asked for the money back ... my first argument to this is that they failed to stop the payments, so effectively it was their mistake, not a debt.

Anyway, after a rather heated and upsetting telephone conversation, the money was paid back. There's no getting away from it, I'm afraid, the money wasn't yours/hers to spend in the first place - I was told if I didn't pay it, they would take me to court ... such compassion.

Can I suggest, have you tried applying for help with funeral costs - if she did not have much money, the government might help with that (you will need to submit receipts) and if/when they pay that, they would be effectively paying back their own money :rotfl:

laxeylady

We asked for help with funeral costs but because we are all cheeky enough to be in full time employment they said no. The awful thing was she had put by that money for her funeral thinking it would be enough. She would have been devastated to know it was 3 times what she had saved. We'll just have to pay it back.

tanith

Sorry to put more of a dampener on it but my daughter who is dealing with her fathers estate is still getting correspondence from companies he dealt with some are debts several are forgotten pensions and this is 6mths after his death its takes a while for everything to catch up I'm afraid . She is so glad she redirected his mail as these companies are writing to the address of a dead man expecting an answer.. she is dealing with each debt/pension as it arises.
Sorry for you loss

minimadtrix

laxeylady wrote: »

We asked for help with funeral costs but because we are all cheeky enough to be in full time employment they said no. .

Oh, I thought that the help with funeral costs were something to do with deceased's estate - although thinking about it, we probably got help with Dad's because Mum receives Pension Credit.

Maybe you should contact the DWP and say you can't afford to pay it all back in one go and just pay a little back each month.

clemmatis

laxeylady wrote: »

We asked for help with funeral costs but because we are all cheeky enough to be in full time employment they said no. The awful thing was she had put by that money for her funeral thinking it would be enough. She would have been devastated to know it was 3 times what she had saved. We'll just have to pay it back.

Funeral cost help is means tested.


Sorry you're sorry to be in full time employment and receiving no low-income benefits... .

laxeylady

clemmatis wrote: »

Funeral cost help is means tested.


Sorry you're sorry to be in full time employment and receiving no low-income benefits... .

Can't see that in my post anywhere actually. Why would anyone post a snotty comment to someone in my situation? I'm gob smacked.

sniggings

laxeylady wrote: »

Can't see that in my post anywhere actually. Why would anyone post a snotty comment to someone in my situation? I'm gob smacked.

Yeah sorry on behalf of that person.

This forum has a lot of people who try and make themselves feel better by putting others down.

Sorry you have to go through this.

I don't know but my guess would be your Mother's estate would be where they should be looking to reclaim the money.

I hope someone can confirm this.