Am I liable for my fathers overpaid pension

Marcos74

Hi all,

I am new to the forum and have joined because I recently lost my job and moved back to my fathers home in Spain. My father passed away on September 14th 2015 after a 3 year battle with cancer. My father was Spanish but worked in the UK from 1972 to 1990 before moving back to Spain. He started receiving his UK Work Place pension in 2013. When my father died his bank account was frozen and his sister (my aunt) took care of most of the paper work as I was not in any state to deal with it. Just recently I updated his bank book because I know he still has money in there and I was shocked to find out that he is still receiving his pension from the UK. My aunt says she remembers telling me that it needed to be cancelled but to be honest with you I cannot remember such a thing. I have been working in the UK for the past 2 years and have just moved back to Spain only to discover this. I have a sister that lives in the UK but we don't have contact and she didn't even come to the funeral.

So my question is what do I do now and am I liable for the overpaid pension? My father was receiving £343 a month. I am really really worried because I have no money at the moment until I can find a new job. I just do not know what to do.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me.

missbiggles1

Marcos74 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am new to the forum and have joined because I recently lost my job and moved back to my fathers home in Spain. My father passed away on September 14th 2015 after a 3 year battle with cancer. My father was Spanish but worked in the UK from 1972 to 1990 before moving back to Spain. He started receiving his UK Work Place pension in 2013. When my father died his bank account was frozen and his sister (my aunt) took care of most of the paper work as I was not in any state to deal with it. Just recently I updated his bank book because I know he still has money in there and I was shocked to find out that he is still receiving his pension from the UK. My aunt says she remembers telling me that it needed to be cancelled but to be honest with you I cannot remember such a thing. I have been working in the UK for the past 2 years and have just moved back to Spain only to discover this. I have a sister that lives in the UK but we don't have contact and she didn't even come to the funeral.

So my question is what do I do now and am I liable for the overpaid pension? My father was receiving £343 a month. I am really really worried because I have no money at the moment until I can find a new job. I just do not know what to do.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me.

If his account has been frozen, surely the overpaid pension is just sitting there waiting to be repaid?

[Deleted User]

Surely the money is still there in his bank account? Just send it back when asked!

Caz3121

If you contact them to explain they should stop payments and agree to repayment when the account in unfrozen

TBagpuss

His estate will have to repay the over payment. If you are his executor or administrator then it is your responsibility to ensure tht this is done.

If the money was simply being paid into his account then then it should all be sitting there and you can just repay it.

If you have been drawing money from his account in the mean time so the full amount isn't there, then his estate is still liable to pay back the full amount, and you would be liable to repay the estate.

Owain_Moneysaver

You aren't liable, your father's estate is - and possibly the executor of the estate if they wrongly administered the estate.

How has this only been identified by you almost a year after the death? The executor should have been checking the account for any transactions and should have notified the pension provider long before now, assuming the pension is paid in monthly or even quarterly and there was no other paperwork found.

Marcos74

Firstly I would like thank everyone for their responses they have been most helpful in order for me to start getting some clarity on this.

I am not sure who is the executor. I need to find this out. When I looked I saw that other payments were leaving his account. My father had a single monthly payment plan for his rent, electricity, water and phone bill. That has still been being payed out every month. No one can take any money out of the account and my father never made a will. I will check again tomorrow but I think there was something in the region of 2,500€ in there (about £1,960) so not all of it is there! The amount paid out should be 11 months totaling £3,773 so there is just over half in there. What a mess! The problem is I entrusted all of this to my aunt and I don't know if she is the executor. What should be my first move in order to resolve this situation and if I am liable which I am hoping I am not. Would some kind of repayment plan be able to be arranged?

In advance thanks again to you all so much for your advice.

Alice_Walker

Marcos74 wrote: »

Firstly I would like thank everyone for their responses they have been most helpful in order for me to start getting some clarity on this.

I am not sure who is the executor. I need to find this out. When I looked I saw that other payments were leaving his account. My father had a single monthly payment plan for his rent, electricity, water and phone bill. That has still been being payed out every month. No one can take any money out of the account and my father never made a will. I will check again tomorrow but I think there was something in the region of 2,500€ in there (about £1,960) so not all of it is there! The amount paid out should be 11 months totaling £3,773 so there is just over half in there. What a mess! The problem is I entrusted all of this to my aunt and I don't know if she is the executor. What should be my first move in order to resolve this situation and if I am liable which I am hoping I am not. Would some kind of repayment plan be able to be arranged?

In advance thanks again to you all so much for your advice.

Who is the rent etc being paid to, and how are these payments being made from a frozen account? Assuming you gave notice to the landlord it is likely that money will be refunded to the estate, and that can be used to repay the pension debt.

Mojisola

Marcos74 wrote: »

moved back to my fathers home in Spain.

Marcos74 wrote: »

When I looked I saw that other payments were leaving his account. My father had a single monthly payment plan for his rent, electricity, water and phone bill. That has still been being payed out every month.

Have you been living in the house without paying any bills or is everything being paid twice?

Bananas123

best to ring the dwp up and get it sorted asap i think...

konark

If your father died in Spain then Spanish law on probate etc will apply, and I doubt anyone on this forum is an expert.