Overpaid Private Pension

Thereclaimers

Hi
Im wondering if anyone could help recently my father lost his battle with Alzheimers after 8 years. He had a private pension with legal and general and was paid his monthly private pension after his death. They have now passed on this debt to my mother who has been asked to repay it. I was wondering if we have a leg to stand on and have to repay or if my mother could come to some repayment option, he had no assets left nor money and we had used that money to be paid towards his funeral. Advice needed please!! Thanks

G6JNS

Thereclaimers wrote: »

Hi
Im wondering if anyone could help recently my father lost his battle with Alzheimers after 8 years. He had a private pension with legal and general and was paid his monthly private pension after his death. They have now passed on this debt to my mother who has been asked to repay it. I was wondering if we have a leg to stand on and have to repay or if my mother could come to some repayment option, he had no assets left nor money and we had used that money to be paid towards his funeral. Advice needed please!! Thanks

The overpayment is a debt of his estate not your mother. Unless your mother acted fraudulently in some way then she has no liability.

PennyForThem_2

I am really not sure that is true - that the debt is the liability of the estate and can be 'safely' ignored. I think in my opinion that is really bad advice.




How long ago did he die and how many payments have been made? The Executor or the administrator of the estate has a duty to inform of the death. Common sense says that the widow should have p)pcontacted all organisations i.e. banks, utilities, state pension (dwp), and any private pension provider of the death.


Did this not happen?


My advice would be to ring up and ask for the bereavement department - most big organisations have one and be upfront with what has happened and the circumstances if paying back is going to be a problem. If a recent death, most will be very understanding.

Tuesday_Tenor

I know that (reasonable) funeral expenses take precedence over repaying any debts outstanding at date of death.

Trouble is, this wasn't an outstanding debt, it was an over-payment made after date of death due to lack of notification in time. The pension money was never actually legally your father's, as he'd died.
Presumably L&G would deem that it should have been returned straightaway.

In a common sense way, I'd agree with L&G.
Just an personal opinion.

Was your mother entitled to the bereavemeeent grant from the governement? I've not dealt with this for a few years, so not up-to-date, but it's something to look into.

G6JNS

PennyForThem wrote: »

I am really not sure that is true - that the debt is the liability of the estate and can be 'safely' ignored. I think in my opinion that is really bad advice.




How long ago did he die and how many payments have been made? The Executor or the administrator of the estate has a duty to inform of the death. Common sense says that the widow should have p)pcontacted all organisations i.e. banks, utilities, state pension (dwp), and any private pension provider of the death.


Did this not happen?


My advice would be to ring up and ask for the bereavement department - most big organisations have one and be upfront with what has happened and the circumstances if paying back is going to be a problem. If a recent death, most will be very understanding.

I did not say, or, infer that, the debt could be ignored. To suggest otherwise is both stupid, and offensive. What I did say, and will repeat, that the spouse has not liability unless she acted in a fraudulent manner. Of course the bank should have been informed promptly as should the pension company but unless this was deliberately delayed in order to get extra money nobody has done anything wrong.

Tuesday_Tenor

G6JNS wrote: »

What I did say, and will repeat, that the spouse has not liability unless she acted in a fraudulent manner. Of course the bank should have been informed promptly as should the pension company but unless this was deliberately delayed in order to get extra money nobody has done anything wrong.

Wouldn't L&G be reasonable in asserting that their money has been taken and spent without their permission? The wife has used money that was neither hers nor her husband's to pay for the funeral. The family has gained and L&G lost out. Therefore that could be deemed a fraudulent use of the money.

If it was done unwittingly then admitting the mistake and paying back should mean the end of the matter, as it would show there was no intention to permanently defraud.

hcb42

I also agree the money should be repaid. It was an overpayment as they were not informed in time.

G6JNS

hcb42 wrote: »

I also agree the money should be repaid. It was an overpayment as they were not informed in time.

The widow would only have any liability if it could be proved that she acted fraudulently. That might be hard to prove. We don't know if at the time the funeral was paid for she even knew about the overpayment. On reflection how was the money, presumably paid in to the deceased's bank account, then removed pay the FD direct. from it to pay the funeral expenses? Maybe the bank were persuaded to pay the FD direct.

Newly_retired

Even without any fraudulent intent, it is still an overpayment and has to be repaid.
It is not the deceased's money, as there was no entitlement to it.
Overpayments can easily happen as their systems of payment are all in place and even with prompt notification, it is often already too late to prevent payment.

jbainbridge

How many payments were there?

I'll have to agree - there was a duty to inform L&G that he had died. This should have been done in a reasonable time. You admit to being aware of the overpayment and to spending it! It should be paid back.

Ziggazee

You've had the money. You weren't entitled to spend it. You must pay it back. Fairly simple really.