Overpayment of pension

simpywimpy

My father died over a year ago now. I applied for probate as executor/beneficiary and notified companies that I knew of.

My dad was in receipt of a pension from the county council and although advised via registrar service as all pensions were, they continued to pay for 4 months (approx). I closed his account and used the funds to pay his undertaker bill. What I didnt know at the time was that the money was an overpayment or where it had come from. I presumed it was an investment policy he had coming in but had no idea it was something he wasnt entitled to.

They are now threatening court action against me personally for the return of £1300.

Am I liable to return it? I havent benefitted from it and wasnt aware of it until after all his debts etc were settled.

madbadrob

In one word yes. Unfortunately any overpayment is liable to be paid back and if there is no money left in the estate they claim it back from the beneficiaries. So if you are sole beneficiary then you are liable for the total amount. If there are other beneficiaries they are also liable but they could refuse and say this is down to the executor making a mistake which in turn falls back on you.

Rob

NAR

simpywimpy wrote: »

My dad was in receipt of a pension from the county council and although advised via registrar service as all pensions were, they continued to pay for 4 months (approx).

As executor the onus was on you to ensure he was entitled to receive the money into his account. Your "duty" was to check with the council if this was an overpayment or not.

simpywimpy

It was a genuine error on my part. Ive settled his account with the money from the bank account not knowing it was an overpayment. Surely there should be some responsibility from the pension people not acting swiftly enough themselves or informing me before the estate was wound up

Goldenyears

simpywimpy wrote: »

Surely there should be some responsibility from the pension people not acting swiftly enough themselves or informing me before the estate was wound up

Where does it say that it's the Registrar's job to stop occupational pension payments? I don't understand this. Correct me if I am wrong and times have changed. Two years ago I stopped my father's public sector pension by phoning Capita the day after he died. It would never have entered my head to involve the Registrar.

simpywimpy

when you register the death they contact pension services or so they said. i wasnt aware of a public sector pension so unable to inform anyone personally.

Mojisola

simpywimpy wrote: »

It was a genuine error on my part. Ive settled his account with the money from the bank account not knowing it was an overpayment.

Surely there should be some responsibility from the pension people not acting swiftly enough themselves or informing me before the estate was wound up

It's the executor or administrator who is responsible for making sure there are no overpayments or debts to be cleared before any inheritance is distributed.

"Presuming" that the money has come from somewhere without checking it just isn't doing the job.

Mojisola

simpywimpy wrote: »

My father died over a year ago now. I applied for probate as executor/beneficiary and notified companies that I knew of.

My dad was in receipt of a pension from the county council and although advised via registrar service as all pensions were, they continued to pay for 4 months (approx). I closed his account and used the funds to pay his undertaker bill.

The "tell us once" service deals with DWP pensions and benefits.

How would they know that he was getting a pension from the CC? The council pension department should have been notified by you along with the utilities, insurance companies, etc.

madbadrob

Id also question why you hadnt told the bank for 4 months that he had died. If you had his account would have been frozen and this money would not have been able to be paid into it.

Rob

troubleinparadise

madbadrob wrote: »

Id also question why you hadnt told the bank for 4 months that he had died. If you had his account would have been frozen and this money would not have been able to be paid into it.

Rob

It would also have been obvious from the bank account statements/activity that payments were coming from a source perhaps not previously identified, but which is trackable if you speak to the bank, and perhaps have old paperwork to look through.

County Councils send out paperwork to pension recipients giving details of the annual payment. I appreciate that not every executor has that old paperwork available to them when sorting out someone else's financial affairs.

Goldiegirl

simpywimpy wrote: »

It was a genuine error on my part. Ive settled his account with the money from the bank account not knowing it was an overpayment. Surely there should be some responsibility from the pension people not acting swiftly enough themselves or informing me before the estate was wound up

It was a genuine error that you assumed the registrar would tell the Council and therefore didn't tell the Council yourself.

But it doesn't mean that the error can remain unrectified.

You'll still need to pay the money back. If you are unable to pay it back in one lump sum, speak to the council and see if they'll accept the money in instalments.